Tennessee football fans looking for the Vols to play more games against Power Four opponents and less against small schools are surely grinning on Monday. 

According to Yahoo! Sports' Ross Dellenger, the SEC is looking at a couple of major changes as part of a significant overhaul to the College Football Playoff format.  That would potentially include moving to a 9-game SEC schedule as well as regular SEC/Big Ten clashes. 

Within the Big Ten & SEC, momentum builds for an expanded playoff with multi-AQs per league.

Ahead of the SEC-B1G joint meeting, the industry is closer than ever to a new CFP, reimagined league title games, 9-game SEC sked & SEC-B1G scheduling packagehttps://t.co/Rcl99Wndj9

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) February 17, 2025

The new arrangement would expand to 14 or 16 games and would increase the allotment of automatic berths for SEC and Big Ten schools – 4 instead of 2 for the ACC and Big 12.  

A result of the system, according Dellenger, would be to go to a 9-game SEC schedule, something that's been mused about for years now.  

This is what Dellenger said about the 9-game slate: 

One of the most heated debates within college athletics recently is the SEC’s conference schedule.

The league — the self-proclaimed king of the sport — has, for more than two years now, seriously explored moving from eight to nine league games. However, conference administrators have remained split on the matter. There is fear in sustaining more defeats, which could cost playoff spots. Administrators also are requesting more revenue from ESPN, perhaps as much or more than $5 million a school annually to play an extra league game.

A new playoff model guaranteeing the conference four spots satisfies one of the two issues. As for the other, officials from ESPN and the conference have spent months discussing additional revenue — negotiations that many expect to soon reach an agreement.

I find the move curious after last year's outrage about Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina being left out of the playoff field, but as Dellenger notes, being able to lock in at least a quarter of the playoff field regardless of team records should serve to allow the SEC to feel protected by making their in-season schedules tougher.  

That also means good things for Vol fans hoping to see some of their traditional rivalries remain intact.  Preserving key rivalries has been a point of discussion before during previous considerations about whether or not to expand to nine upon the addition of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC.  

It's not just about the rivalries themselves, which fans, players, and programs hold dear on their own.  Those games draw eyeballs and make money, so perhaps a Tennessee-Florida or Tennessee-Georgia would be an annual part of a nine-game schedule moving forward.  The Third Saturday in October and the late season clash with Vanderbilt would almost certainly be preserved for Tennessee, one would think. 

Dellenger had the following to say about an SEC/Big Ten scheduling agreement: 

A ninth SEC conference game would then set in motion a scheduling agreement with the Big Ten, which itself already plays nine league games. The scheduling agreement, though still in the discussion stages, would pit SEC and Big Ten teams against one another in annual games to be sold as a separate television package.

While the terms of such an arrangement weren't revealed, one would have to imagine it would involve matching teams with similar records from previous seasons.  I.e., the previous season's B1G and SEC conference champions would face off, the runners up, and then on down the standings.  

For example, had that been in place already with a place-matching system, Tennessee – who finished third in the SEC last year – would have ended up facing Indiana this season.  The Hoosiers finished third after losing a tiebreaker with Penn State to make the Big Ten championship game.  

Or perhaps some modified form of matching teams could be in play. I.e., the top three teams in each league from last year could be in play to be matched up, whether that's SEC 1 vs. Big Ten 3, etc., and then the same from four to six, and so on down the standings.  That could allow for some matchup flexibility for television purposes without sacrificing game quality with uneven matchups. 

We'll see down the road how thing shake out, but with the SEC and Big Ten holding as much power as they do, it certainly looks like we could be seeing the two control the playoff format moving forward, while also providing some exciting matchups between each other during the season.

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