Is anyone else getting tired of the constant back and forth between the various conferences over the College Football Playoff format?

Maybe I’m overly sensitive, but just seeing commissioners and athletics directors (and coaches) seemingly never stop giving their opinions on what the CFP’s 2026 format should be has become a tired tale, in my humble opinion.

Of course, to be fair, a lot of money is at stake in the CFP, which this past season moved to 12 teams and will stay at 12 participants in the upcoming season, along with some changes to the seeding format that were revealed earlier this spring. After that, the chatter is that the CFP could move to 16 teams in 2026, but the different power leagues aren’t in agreement over the format.

For our beloved Syracuse football, what does it mean? Well, that’s tough to say at this juncture. Head coach Fran Brown has said his singular focus on the field is to win national championships, so regardless of how many automatic qualifiers the Atlantic Coast Conference has in the future, the main thing that the Orange can do to control its own destiny is pile up a lot of victories and make it darn near impossible for the CFP selection committee to leave the ‘Cuse out.

When it comes to the Big Ten and the SEC, there are so many egos in the room.

Okay. So without question, the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference rule the college football world. The last two national champs are from the Big Ten – Ohio State and Michigan – while SEC squads such as Alabama, Georgia and LSU have won chips in recent years.

Some of the talk is that the Big Ten and SEC each want four automatic qualifiers in a 16-team CFP. Huh? Let’s not be greedy here, folks. I understand why those two conferences want multiple automatic qualifiers. They annually have the top teams, and those squads play the toughest league schedules.

Still, two conferences automatically getting half of the 16 CFP participants? I’ll have a tough time thinking that’s in any way fair. Then again, nothing in life is fair, much less the CFP.

Personally, I’d be all for a 16-team CFP that features the four power-conference champions, the next two highest-ranked league champs, and the next 10 highest-rated teams regardless of their conference affiliation.

Maybe that’s wishful thinking, though.

As college football reporter Brett McMurphy noted in a post on X, the deadline for finalizing the CFP’s format in 2026 is December 1. He reported that conference commissioners are starting over as it pertains to the 2026 format.

I’m stunned (insert sarcasm here).

Tom Fornelli, a national writer with CBS Sports, had an insightful column earlier this week where he suggested ideas for the CFP’s 2026 format. He’s on board for 16 teams, with straight seeding and no bonus given to conference champions as it relates to their seeds.

Fornelli suggests that the top six conference champions land automatic bids. The Big Ten and the SEC each get three automatic bids. That gets us to 10 teams. Fornelli writes that no conference can have more than four teams in the 16-team field, meaning that every year, there would be a minimum of four at-large berths available to the ACC, the Big 12, the Group of Five conferences and, presumably, Notre Dame.

The speculation will continue onward until a 2026 format is decided for the CFP. My advice to Syracuse football and its ACC peers: just win games.

KC Concepcion is set to be one of the most important players for Texas A&M football next season. The star wide receiver, a transfer from NC State, comes to the Aggies after two highly productive years up in Raleigh, and was one of the most highly-coveted players in the transfer portal.

In this modern era of college football, then, this means that most fans conclude that he will command a high amount of leverage when it comes to NIL compensation. So no one was surprised when a number began circulating recently of 2.5MM total compensation for Concepcion in this upcoming year.

As a matter of fact, I took that reporting to mean that the Aggies were taking the next step to be competitive in the NIL space. There’s a lot that’s still opaque about amounts that certain players are earning, and the lack of transparency makes things difficult, but it didn’t seem out of the question that Concepcion could be earning that much from the collective and other deals.

Mike Elko dismisses rumored, eye-popping NIL amount for KC Concepcion: “He does not have that much money”

However, Mike Elko at a coach’s night last night had some definitive words about such rumors.

This does not necessarily mean that the Aggies are not competitive on the NIL front: I don’t think that they would have a guy like Concepcion on the team if they weren’t competitive. It clearly is not their entire pitch to any recruit, unlike certain schools.

But it’s good for Elko to address these things in one way, because it can lead to other recruits being of the belief that, if they are offered less, they are being lowballed. If that’s not the case, then it doesn’t help anyone.

This was a smart move by Elko to dismiss this rumor. It’s hard to be upfront as a modern college football program, but the strategic way that Elko is doing so is paying off.

When Ohio State athletics boss Ross Bjork took the stage last week and clued us in on all the new NIL rules, what did you think?

How will the Buckeyes fare in the updated era? Can they remain atop the food chain? Is it … you know … good to be King?

We welcome in The People’s Champ – Matt Baxendell – to dive deep on all the changes and possible ramifications.

How will it all look when practically applied by the NCAA and sheriffed by Deloitte, a multinational professional services network and one of the Big Four accounting firms?

Is the city of Columbus now THE ideal college town (if it wasn’t already)?

What other programs are in a similar spot to Ohio State?

In the end … is it good or bad for the Buckeyes?

Spend 5ish with us this a.m., ‘Nutters!

What’s next for the Buckeyes? Make sure you’re in the loop — take five seconds to sign up for our FREE Buckeyes newsletter now!

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The NCAA softball rules committee proposed multiple rule changes for the 2025-26 season. Additionally, the committee clarified obstruction.

The recommended changes include a modified illegally batted ball, meaning it would be a dead ball call if a player has one foot completely out of a batter’s box. A double first base was also part of the proposal as committee members argued it would create a clearer running lane between home plate and first base. Baseball approved a double first base for this current season.

Obstruction took center stage at this year’s Women’s College World Series, though. Some controversial reviews took place, and the committee clarified the rule. Obstruction occurs when a player does not have possession of the ball and either blocks any part of the leading edge of a base or otherwise blocks the runner from advancing or returning.

One note in the clarification centered around if the runner would clearly be out regardless of obstruction. Note No. 5 reads, “If the base runner would have been out, regardless of the defensive player’s movement or positioning, which had no effect on the play, the runner would remain out, and the obstruction would be ignored.” The previous clarification left it up to umpire’s judgment.

“By clarifying this rule, it allows our athletes to make softball plays,” said Tina Phillips, Pitt-Bradford coach and chair of the committee. “We wanted to avoid the scenarios where someone is safe due to a technicality.”

Obstruction became key WCWS storyline

One of the key moments involving an obstruction call came in the Women’s College World Series final between Texas and Texas Tech. Longhorns infielder Leighann Goode went to tag Red Raiders baserunner Logan Halleman out on a stolen base attempt. Goode placed the tag well before Halleman got to the base, but Texas Tech coach Gerry Glasco challenged the call and argued Goode obstructed.

Umpires overturned the call after a review, and the reaction was swift as criticism came in from around the sport. ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza was among the voices calling for the NCAA to change the rule.

The NCAA changed the obstruction rule for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The goal is to allow a runner a path to the base while running on a live ball. A play is deemed to be obstruction if a defensive player blocks any part of the leading edge of a base – including home plate – or “otherwise blocks the runner from advancing or returning to a base,” according to Rule 9.5.1.

“Obstruction occurs when a defensive player, neither in possession of the ball nor in the act of fielding a batted ball, impedes a batter’s attempt to make contact with a pitch or impedes the progress of any runner who is legally running bases on a live ball,” the rule states. “It can be intentional or unintentional.”

The SEC was its best, maybe ever, last season, and Auburn emerged as the outright champion. What do the new-look Tigers have in store for an encore?

Auburn basketball got a better idea of what its conference schedule will look like Wednesday morning, when the SEC unveiled opponents and locations for each team’s 18 conference games.

Here are Auburn’s designations for next season, with the most notable change that Arkansas is now a home-and-home opponent, replacing Georgia. So that means, under the league’s new scheduling model, Alabama and Ole Miss will be the Tigers’ permanent home-and-home foes, with the third spot able to be rotated every year.

• HOME AND AWAY: Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas

• HOME ONLY: Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt

• AWAY ONLY: Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee

Next season will mark the first time since 2014 that Auburn will not play rival Georgia twice in a regular season.

Exact dates for each SEC game will be announced closer to the season; last year they were announced in August.

Auburn went 15-3 last season and won the league outright in a loaded SEC that earned a record 14 NCAA Tournament bids. The Tigers went on to their second Final Four under Bruce Pearl, then had to replace every scholarship player from the team, with the exception of point guard Tahaad Pettiford who opted to return from the NBA draft process.

Auburn added four players from the transfer portal — UCF forward Keyshawn Hall, Mississippi State big man KeShawn Murphy, Texas Tech guard Kevin Overton and Lincoln Memorial wing Elyjah Freeman — along with JUCO pickups Abdul Bashir, a guard, and Emeka Opurum, a center. Auburn also landed a commitment from Serbian forward Filip Jovic.

The Tigers bring in the nation’s No. 14-ranked freshman class with forward Sebastian Williams-Adams, point guard Kaden Magwood and shooting guard Simon Walker.