Almost every football offseason now features stories about boardroom maneuvering between the major conferences in the sport. This year is no different as it is being reported that the Big Ten and the SEC are discussing a partnership that could have huge ramifications across the sport. That potential deal would also likely impact the Clemson football program.
Over the weekend, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports wrote that the Big Ten and the SEC are planning to meet this week to further discuss changing the format of the College Football Playoff. Dellenter's piece says that the two leagues want a 14 or 16-team format in which the Ben Ten and the SEC are guaranteed four playoff spots each while the ACC and Big 12 would be guaranteed two and one guaranteed spot would go to the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion. Additionally, that format would include one to three at-large spots.
What's more, though, is that Dellenger also reports that the SEC is considering adding a ninth conference game to the schedule.
"The playoff format change would clear the way for SEC administrators to, finally, make the long-discussed move to play nine regular-season conference games and would trigger, perhaps, all four power leagues to overhaul their conference championship weekend," he writes.
These proposed changes, which would begin as early as the 2026 season, could completely overhaul college football as we've come to know it. What's more, they could signal an end to some fantastic non-conference rivalries such as Clemson vs. South Carolina.
Could Clemson's rivalry game with South Carolina come to an end?
If the SEC adds an additional conference game to each school's football schedule, one non-conference game would be axed. Right now, almost every SEC team plays one or two marquee out-of-conference games, one or two games against a Group of Five opponent, and one against an FCS team.
Should the league add a ninth SEC game to the mix, one of those four out-of-conference games is going to be a scheduling casualty. It likely won't be the FCS or Group of Five games that get chopped off the schedule as those are almost always guaranteed victories. Thus, each SEC team will have to decide which of the two non-league games against legitimate opponents it will cut.
That would leave South Carolina with an interesting choice. In upcoming years, the Gamecocks have non-conference games against Miami (2026-27), North Carolina (2028-29), NC State (2030-31), and Virginia Tech (2034-35). Would USC rather keep those games and scrap their annual rivalry with Clemson? From a competition perspective, that might make sense given that the Gamecocks are only 44-73-4 all-time in that series.
In addition to South Carolina, Clemson is set to face SEC schools LSU (2025-26), Georgia (2029-30), and Oklahoma (2035-36) in the not-so-distant future. Thus, the Tigers might have to find new opponents for those games should the SEC teams back out in light of a ninth conference game. Of course, it would be unlikely that the replacement opponents for those games would be anywhere near as intriguing.
There is a chance that this idea might not come to fruition, though. Dellenger writes that some SEC schools aren't sold on the idea.
"However, conference administrators have remained split on the matter," he writes. "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."
On the other hand, if the Big Ten and the SEC do both have nine-game conference schedules (the Big Ten is already at that number), Dellenger says that the two conferences would then likely implement a scheduling agreement that would see the two leagues schedule one another for marquee non-conference games.
"A ninth SEC conference game would then set in motion a scheduling agreement with the Big Ten, which itself already plays nine league games," he writes. "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."
Of course, that would likely spell the end of Clemson's annual game with South Carolina and leave the Tigers to have to search for new non-conference opponents in the Big 12 or the Group of Five conferences. That's not a reality most Clemson fans want to experience and it is why most people in Clemson are hoping that the Big Ten and the SEC don't strike an agreement. However, if there is money to be made, it will likely happen and that would be a shame for the sport of college football as a whole.