College football has been teetering on the edge of chaos, and now the SEC and Big Ten have shoved it straight into the fire. For months, these two power conferences have been plotting a hostile takeover of the sport, and now? They got exactly what they wanted—full control of the College Football Playoff, with their fingerprints all over the future format. And if you think fans are cool with it, oh, you got another thing coming.

Last spring, SEC and Big Ten executives played hardball in negotiations, threatening to dip and start their own playoff system if they didn’t get their way. And guess what? That strong-arm tactic worked.

The 10 FBS leagues and Notre Dame signed off on a deal that handed the two richest conferences the keys to the kingdom. Now, these two juggernauts are scheming to expand the 12-team playoff to 14 or even 16 teams, stacking the deck in their favor by locking in automatic bids—four per conference. You read that right. Under the proposed plan, the Big Ten and SEC could claim almost half the playoff field, while the ACC and Big 12 would each receive two automatic bids and the Group of Five just one.

And it doesn’t stop there…..

They are also cooking up a plan to make SEC and Big Ten teams face off annually in a separate TV deal, cashing in millions while locking out everybody else. Now, we’re hearing talks about adding a 9th conference game to SEC schedules (finally), and what’s even crazier, these two want a scheduled agreement with Big Ten teams, too, just to flex and get some extra TV money.

More games, more revenue, and no chill. It’s a straight power grab. The chaos this would cause? It’s already shaking up how the rest of the conferences are thinking. You’ve got the Big 12, ACC, and even the Group of Five trying to figure out how they’re gonna stay relevant while the SEC and Big Ten hold court. But no one’s feeling this new system, especially the fans, who are living for the drama in the comments section. The fans are mad as hell, and they’re letting these conferences know it.

College football fans aren’t buying into the idea of a Big Ten and SEC monopoly

Now let’s talk about what happened when the entire CFB community hit the streets on February 16. Social media? Shut down. These fans weren’t playing around; they straight went for a riot. They hit the IG comments section so hard. Every fan in their feelings, calling out the SEC and Big Ten for messing up what was once a sport about competition, not corporate greed.

The fans started with, “Ruining the sport.”Plain and simple, fans ain’t rocking with this. The whole point of college football is the drama, the unpredictability. But when you hand the SEC and Big Ten all the power, it ain’t competition anymore—it’s a monopoly. If half the playoff is low-key decided before a single snap, what’s even the point? Are you telling us we gotta watch a 9-3 team from the SEC get in just because they play in the ‘right’ conference while an 11-1 squad from the ACC gets snubbed? Diabolical.

Then came the hot takes about the playoff system. You had the die-hards screaming, “Or just go back to 4 so that the regular season actually matters. 3 loss team winning the natty makes no sense.” We get it, ain’t gonna lie, the 12-team playoff is the best thing to happen to college football forever. But fans have a point here—this new system basically makes regular season L’s irrelevant. Lose three games? Cool, still in. Shoot, even an 8-4 record in the SEC or Big Ten might still sneak you in. Where’s the urgency? Where are the stakes? The beauty of CFB was always that every game felt like a playoff game. Now? Not so much.

The fans who’ve had enough of the SEC’s light schedule called out, “Finally 9 SEC games—tired of seeing them play powerhouses like UT-Martin and Mercer in the second-to-last week of the season.” Alright, fans have been asking the SEC for years to schedule some tougher November games. Seeing Alabama roll over teams like Western Carolina by 50 just to rest up for Auburn has become a pretty predictable November tradition. They’re tired of seeing these “powerhouses” run up the score against nobody. And they’re right—adding that 9th SEC conference game? Might actually bring some competition to the table and help out the playoff race. Maybe finally we’ll get to see real matchups instead of gimmie wins.

This fan wasn’t thrilled about the SEC and Big 10’s ‘4 auto bid call’. “F— no, that takes out the fun—regular season games aren’t important anymore.” Fans ain’t wrong. The minute you start handing out auto bids left and right, you kill the stakes of the season. Think about it—why stress over a tight November matchup if you already got a playoff spot locked in? If you in the SEC or Big Ten, you can coast. But if you’re in the ACC or Big 12? Oh, you better be perfect, cause there ain’t no handouts for y’all. It’s a double standard at its finest, and the fans see right through it.

Some fans are straight-up calling for a reduction in teams. They’re saying, “They should reduce the playoff to 8 teams—not too little, not too much. 8 is perfect.” Honestly? It’s a tough call. 12 teams is a lot, but if it’s done right, the madness it creates is part of what makes college football so entertaining. The larger field gives us Cinderella stories. Teams that were left for dead earlier in the season getting a shot, and most importantly, a chance for the underdogs to actually make noise. Cutting it back to 8? You’d lose so much potential drama, especially now that the playoff has actually made every regular season game feel more important.

Look, college football’s literally going through a major identity crisis, and fans are low-key divided. The SEC and Big Ten can play power politics all day, but if they keep going down this path, they might find themselves messing with the soul of the sport. History will remember this moment. Will it be a step forward or a giant mess? Let’s hope they don’t turn college football into another scripted reality show. Because if the fans have their say? This thing’s about to get real ugly.

But hey, at least we ain’t gotta watch Alabama vs. Mercer in November anymore.