College football periphery is constantly evolving. The latest move in that direction is the proposed B1G-SEC deal to determine what the new playoff structure looks like from 2026. The expansion spree continues, and hopefully, the 12-team window will turn into a 14 or 16-team window with some extension into the automatic bids and championship games. The move has been in the discussion for a long. When the Power 2 conference held its second joint summit on Wednesday in New Orleans, the tottering future of the 2026 CFP mold seemingly came to a consensus.

However, on pen and paper, there’s been no decision made yet. Everything is just building momentum. But before the ‘let’s wait and watch’ phase gets over, and there comes a time to embed the final verdict, SEC Network insider Paul Finebaum showcases strong resentment over the claptrap.

Paul Finebaum dismisses the SEC nonsense in a cut-throat statement

Although Finebaum understands the concerns of the two major conferences regarding team seeding under the current CFP format, he opposes the notion of receiving more bids from the Big Ten and the SEC. It’s clearly partial and pertains to the making-the-rich-richer theory.

”I believe they are completely wrong about guaranteeing bids,” Finebaum said via GetUp. “Doing our show yesterday, even SEC fans are calling in saying they don’t like it. There’s something inherently wrong about stacking the deck before the season.” Now, it’s not even a surprise to garner negative reactions from the SEC and Big 10 people. Even if we overlook the injustice towards the other two conferences, the system carries the potential to undermine the credibility of college football as a whole.

”Yeah, the SEC and the Big Ten are by far the best leagues, and last year, the SEC only got three, and there were three schools hanging on the ledge. But ultimately, you could have a year in, probably more in, the Big Ten or the SEC, where you have two or three elite teams, and then your automatic third or fourth, or maybe your fourth, is an 8-4 team that probably doesn’t belong in there. So, I think it’s a bad move right now.” Paul came clean on his stance on the growing SEC-B1G debate.

Just to recap a bit. Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina had to miss out on the playoffs last year despite having identical records to multiple teams that made it. Ultimately, the committee had its reasoning, and three SEC teams watched the playoffs from their sofas. Since then, there have been rumors of a potential change in the make-up of the playoffs.

As a veteran of this business, Paul isn’t at all surprised at what’s happening. He isn’t favoring it in any way. But all he’s saying is it’s not the only big-budget problem that is wreaking havoc on college football alone. According to Paul Finebaum, the veterans are purposefully reacting like they didn’t even see where it was going. Some of them even blamed the SEC and B1G’s agenda to destroy the root of college football, which Finebaum believes is not any less disgusting than the autocratic immunity of the big fat schools. However, no matter what the other schools say, for Kirby Smart, it could be a stupendous chance to capitalize on his playoff dream and beyond.

How do other SEC insiders and coaches react to the trademark proposal? 

The last clause of the new expansion model showcased an increase in the SEC conference games from eight to nine. The SEC executives weren’t in favor of this earlier, as it could, on the flip side, inflicting more losses on the SEC’s top teams and significantly lower their playoff chances.

But as there are extra automatic bids as the wound healer, they are good to go. For Georgia, they can have more chances to host a playoff game in Athens after an easy playoff invasion. Although Smart hasn’t said any word on this yet, his strive to live up to the massive $13 million annual cap and a recent contract extension through 2033 make it easier to run into his mind.

ESPN has been one of the major agenda pushers of the SEC. But moguls like Paul Finebaum and Rece Davis seem to push back in this regard. If the majority of the SEC guys strongly oppose the move, it might not culminate into a final statement. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said, “I think that’s something that we owe our colleagues first, and I think I’ve been consistent in that observation for us.”