Joel Klatt Hints At Big Ten, SEC Agreeing To Long-Awaited Rivalry Schedule

The Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference have been the driving forces behind the 24-team College Football Playoff becoming a reality. For college football analyst Joel Klatt, that can only mean one thing: A long-awaited Big Ten-SEC college football challenge.

Appearing on 96.7 The Ticket, Klatt declared that there have to be “scheduling agreements between the SEC and the Big Ten” and anticipates “expanding the valuable matchups in the non-conference” that are better than the current offerings.

“There are scheduling agreements that are in place once this thing expands officially,” Klatt said, via On3. “The next thing that will happen almost immediately is we’re going to get scheduling agreements between the SEC and the Big Ten — top-end matchups, mid-tier matchups, low-end matchups — and we’re going to be expanding the valuable matchups in the non-conference, far surpassing what we have now.”

Doubts Emerge

On3 college football insider Brett McMurphy was quick to pour some cold water on the idea. Taking to X, he wrote on Thursday that a Big Ten source said such an idea “seems extreme” as an immediate idea.

“Big Ten source told me: ‘Immediate seems extreme. Lots of logistics, current entanglements to be worked out. Maybe some games (in 2027), but anything holistic seems to have a longer path.’”

But while McMurphy was quick to express doubt, other fans had some fun with the idea and have already started trash-talking.

“How’s that gonna work when the low end of the Big 10 is 3/4 of the conference??” one Tennessee fan wrote on X.

“Curt Cignetti is literally trembling his boots right now knowing that he can no longer schedule 6 straight junior high teams to start the season,” another fan remarked.

“Wake me up when Georgia and Alabama play real road games against a real opponent. They’ll both be fighting over who gets to play Rutgers…..” wrote a third.

If such an agreement were to come to fruition, it might mitigate some of the ongoing anger at the 24-team playoff.

We’ll just have to wait and see if it materializes.