Roy Kramer, who as commissioner of the Southeastern Conference helped transform the league into a national power while reshaping the entire sport of college football with a precursor to today’s playoff system , has died. He was 96.

Kramer died on Thursday in Vonore, Tennessee, the SEC said.

Kramer served as SEC commissioner from 1990 through 2002. He was the first to imagine a conference title game, which divided his newly expanded 12-team league into divisions and pitted the two champs in a winner-take-all affair that generated millions in TV revenue.

That led to his greatest contribution — the Bowl Championship Series system that moved college football away from its long-held tradition of determining a champion via media and coaches’ polls. The system in place from 1998 through

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