Big 12 takes savage shot at Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti

The Big 12 poked some fun at Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti on Tuesday for his comments at Big Ten media days. Referencing the strenghth of the league, Petitti claimed that a school that went 6-3 in conference play but lost a nonconference game shouldn’t automatically be disqualified from consideration for the College Football Playoff.

“If you’re 6-3 in the Big Ten, I would argue that’s a good record,” Petitti said according to On3’s Brett McMurphy. If you stumble in the non-conference I don’t know why that would disqualify you (from playoff contention).”

Well, that exact scenario played out last season with Iowa. The Hawkeyes finished with a 6-3 record in the Big Ten and also dropped a nonconference game against in-state rival Iowa State. Iowa of course did not make the playoff last season, and the Big 12 couldn’t resist the chance to bring it up.

A 6-3 team stumbling in the non-conference: https://t.co/qu6Lcrfvit pic.twitter.com/35caM9DJr7

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) July 22, 2025

All in all, it’s a pretty funny response from the Big 12. Last year also marked the second time in the past three seasons that Iowa State has won the annual rivalry.

As for Petitti’s original claim, no team that made the College Football Playoff last year had more than three losses. In fact, the only three-loss team to get in was Clemson, which earned an automatic bid after winning the ACC Championship.

It seems unlikely that a four-loss team could ever cross that barrier unless the field expanded beyond 12 teams. However, that’s a real possibility in the future with some coaches advocating for a 16-team or even 24-team playoff.

Tony Petitti makes case for play-in weekend, defends it as option for College Football Playoff

Last week as SEC Media Days in Atlanta, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey once again affirmed his league’s hard-line stance in favor of a 5+11 16-team format that allows for 11 at-large bids. That flies in direct opposition to the Big Ten-backed 4+4+2+2+1+1 model that would grant the Big Ten and SEC four automatic bids apiece, while the ACC and Big 12 receive just two bids for their respective leagues.

To little surprise, that format has been overwhelmingly rejected by the other two Power conferences, with the Big 12 going all-in on the 5+11 model as well.

Of course, in the face of overwhelming opposition against leagues having multiple automatic bids, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti remains confident college football fans at large will eventually come around to his way of thinking, especially when it comes to the proposed play-in games. The idea would be to effectively add games during what is now championship weekend that allows the top four or six teams in each league to play their way into the 16-team Playoff field.

“Look, we feel pretty strongly that fans will really gravitate toward a play-in weekend. That providing games that are do-or-die on the field will drive fan interest,” Petitti said Tuesday at Big Ten Media Days in Las Vegas. “[…] I just believe that in talking to our league, the weekend that we’re talking about, where you’ll have championship games and across all conferences meaningful play-in games, I don’t see how that’s a bad thing for college football. And I think fans will gravitate to it.”

On3’s Alex Byington contributed to this report.