Bret Bielema Unloads On The SEC Over Its Hesitancy For 9-Game Scheduling, As CFP Talks Continue

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema made it clear on Tuesday night that while he would love to see the college football playoff transition to a sixteen-team field, it should only happen if the SEC is ready to start playing a nine-game conference schedule, just as the Big Ten does. 

The hottest topic in college athletics right now, besides the House settlement, is what the CFP will look like following the 2025 season. Right now, we are still waiting to see what the CFP committee decides to do when it comes to a future format. But, the clock is ticking. 

While there have been plenty of conversations around what the SEC ‘should’ do moving forward, they'd be doing their fans a favor by moving to a schedule that also benefits the fans that are paying for these tickets on a yearly basis. 

Bret Bielema Takes Massive Swing At SEC For Strength Of Schedule Data, Trolls Ole Miss Fan With Facts

But, let's put that to the side, for now. 

There is currently a deadline in place to decide what the future of the college football playoff will look like, with December 1st being the day on which the committee needs to come up with a plan for 2026. 

Unfortunately for the SEC, that means making a decision on moving to a nine-game conference schedule hinges on what the college football playoff will look like in the future. As we've seen over the past few months, this conversation has created plenty of different takes on how the SEC should follow other leagues. 

Bret Bielema Thinks It's Only Fair If SEC Moves To 9-Games. He's Not Wrong

The latest coach to take a shot at the SEC, and rightfully so, is Illinois' Bret Bielema, who was speaking at an event on Tuesday evening in Chicago. 

"We voted unanimously as Big Ten coaches to stay at nine league games and actually maybe have an SEC challenge," Bret Bielema said. "I was told that they voted unanimously to stay at eight and not play the Big Ten. But then some people pop off and say what they want to say because they want to look a certain way.

"I get it, but like, I think until you get to nine for everybody, I don't think it could work."

Guess what? He's not wrong about the SEC needing to make the leap to nine games. It's time, with fans also paying for at least two ‘buy games’ per season, but that argument has been driven into the ground over the past number of years. 

Right now, the SEC is doing its best to hold off on any final decision about an increase in conference games before the CFP committee decides on what they want the future format to look like. In the SEC's eyes, there is no reason to add another conference game if they aren't going to be rewarded for their perceived strong strength of schedule. 

But, the reasoning behind why they won't make the jump has gotten stale, and the dissension between the SEC and Big Ten seems to be ramping up. While the argument over automatic bids has been like listening to ‘baby shark’ on repeat, Brett Bielema made it pretty clear that it's time for the SEC to take the next step, or the sixteen-team playoff is worthless if we're arguing over strength of schedule. 

"I don't think there's any way we can do a 16-team playoff if they're not at nine."