MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — The Big Ten’s preferred playoff model is a trojan horse for the SEC.

And still, the SEC keeps inching toward the horse’s belly.

If the Big Ten gets its way, the College Football Playoff would move in 2026 toward a format in which more bids are awarded via automatic selection.

The idea works like this: In a 16-team field, the Big Ten and SEC would get four automatic bids apiece, the ACC and Big 12 would get two auto bids apiece, the Group of Five would get one auto bid, and that leaves three at-large bids up for grabs. In many years, Notre Dame would snag one of the three at-large bids.

It’s easy to understand why the ACC and Big 12 dislike this model. It preassigns twice as many automatic bids to the Big Ten and SEC before the season even kicks off. It’s a model

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