Samwise College Football Newsletter
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
Petitti’s Ultimatum: 24-Team CFP or the Big Ten Waits
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti used his spring-meetings press conference to deliver a blunt message to the College Football Playoff: expand to 24 teams or the Big Ten will stay at 12. ‘If we have to wait, it’s OK. We’ll wait,’ Petitti said, firmly ruling out any path to a 16-team compromise. With the ACC and Big 12 now aligned behind 24 teams, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is isolated as the lone Power Four holdout. The 12-team format is locked in for 2026; December 1 is the soft deadline for a 2027 change. But Petitti made clear the Big Ten won’t blink first.
Sources: Yahoo Sports
18-for-18: Big Ten Head Coaches Unanimous for 24-Team Playoff at Spring Meetings
Every one of the Big Ten’s 18 head football coaches is on board with a 24-team College Football Playoff, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The coaches voiced their unanimous support at the conference’s spring meetings in Rancho Palos Verdes, pairing the 24-team model with calls to eliminate conference title games and condense the regular season. ‘When you do a lot of things everybody’s 18-for-18 for, I think it speaks volumes,’ said Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck. Ohio State’s Ryan Day added: ‘The season needs to be pushed up. We need to finish much sooner.’ The SEC holds its own spring meetings after Memorial Day.
Sources: Yahoo Sports / Buckeyes Wire
Sankey’s Wall Cracks: SEC Leaders Privately Back 24-Team Playoff
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has been the central obstacle to a 24-team College Football Playoff for two years. That wall is showing cracks. Sankey acknowledged this week that sentiment inside his own conference has shifted, with coaches like Kirby Smart and Alabama AD Greg Byrne now publicly backing expansion. SEC frustration runs deep: many decision-makers assumed the league’s nine-game conference schedule expansion would come paired with playoff growth. It didn’t. Sankey still personally prefers a 16-team format and maintains that SEC-Big Ten agreement is required for any change. But with his coaches and ADs visibly breaking ranks, the pressure from within is now impossible to ignore.
Sources: AP News
Big Ten Explores Self-Governance as College Sports Commission Sputters
With the College Sports Commission failing to gain full Power 4 buy-in and Congress stalled on federal legislation, the Big Ten is exploring a contingency plan: govern itself. At their spring meetings, AD Ross Bjork was candid: ‘We cannot govern nationally right now.’ Big Ten leaders discussed a self-governance framework that would let the conference set and enforce its own NIL and revenue-sharing rules — independent of the CSC. A recent federal court ruling on Ivy League scholarships may offer antitrust cover for conference-level rule-making. The conversations reflect a growing conviction that waiting for a national solution carries too high a competitive cost.
Sources: CBS Sports
SCORE Act Benched Again: House Pulls College Sports Vote as Black Caucus Unites
College sports reform legislation stalled in Congress again Tuesday when House Republican leaders scrubbed a scheduled Rules Committee vote on the SCORE Act — the second time in six months the bill has been pulled. The Congressional Black Caucus dealt the decisive blow, announcing unanimous opposition and tying the bill to voting-rights concerns in Southern states where SEC schools are concentrated. Attention now shifts to the Senate, where Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell are crafting a bipartisan alternative. The Trump-aligned presidential roundtable on college sports publicly endorsed the Senate track, bypassing the stalled House bill — leaving college athletics without a federal framework for the foreseeable future.
Sources: Roll Call
Four-Star WR Eli Woodard Decommits from USC Over No-Visit Policy
USC’s strict no-visit policy for committed recruits has claimed another high-profile casualty. Four-star 2027 wide receiver Eli Woodard, ranked No. 23 at his position nationally, announced his decommitment from the Trojans, with On3 reporting that USC refused to allow him to take official visits to competing programs after his stock climbed significantly since his February commitment. Woodard is 6-foot-1, 180 pounds out of Temecula, California. Auburn, Cal, Georgia, Miami, and UCLA are among the early suitors. The departure is the latest sign that USC’s visit policy is a structural disadvantage in recruiting, with rivals aggressively rolling out the red carpet during spring visit season.
Sources: On3
Final AP Top 10 (2025–26)
Off-season — final poll from last season
1. Indiana (16-0) — CFP Champions
2. Miami (13-3)
3. Penn State (13-2)
4. Oregon (13-2)
5. Ohio State (11-3)
6. Georgia (11-2)
7. Notre Dame (11-2)
8. Texas (11-2)
9. Alabama (10-3)
10. Clemson (10-3)
Off-Season Watch
Big Ten (3 consecutive titles)
Indiana — Defending Champions
Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon in mix
SEC (0 title game appearances, 3 yrs)
Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee
CFP Format
12 teams locked for 2026 — expansion vote pending Dec. 1
Curated by JD · samwise.agency