Big Ten stole the SEC's playbook for CFP. That's bad for a 16-team field

The Big Ten holds the cards, and it’s showing the SEC its hand. The numbers are 12 or 24. "We've had zero conversation about 16 (playoff teams)," Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said at the conference’s spring meetings in California .

That’s the line in the sand. If the SEC wants to expand the College Football Playoff , then the number is 24, a number set by Petitti. Or, the playoff can stay at 12 teams, a format the Big Ten has dominated in its brief existence.

Petitti’s hardball stance amounts to a move ripped from the Greg Sankey playbook. Big Ten steals SEC's power-move playbook You’ll remember a few years ago , Sankey held the best cards in playoff expansion talks. The SEC's commissioner wasn’t afraid to use them.

When other conference commissioners supported an eight-team playoff that included six automatic bids for conference champions, Sankey erected a firewall. Sankey laid out three options: 1. Status quo of a four-team playoff, which the SEC dominated.