Pat Forde is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who covers college football and college basketball as well as the Olympics and horse racing. He cohosts the College Football Enquirer podcast and is a football analyst on the Big Ten Network. He previously worked for Yahoo Sports, ESPN and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal. Forde has won 28 Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest awards, has been published three times in the Best American Sports Writing book series, and was nominated for the 1990 Pulitzer Prize. A past president of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and member of the Football Writers Association of America, he lives in Louisville with his wife. They have three children, all of whom were collegiate swimmers.
The court filing ahead of Monday’s hearing claims the Texas Tech quarterback used proxies to place wagers on his behalf, including at least 40 bets on Indiana games during his freshman season.
A CFP presentation meant to explain the playoff rankings instead deepened SEC concerns that the committee rewards dominant records in weaker leagues more than survival in their gauntlet.
While weighing concerns about regular-season game value and changing the sport’s calendar, commissioners are coalescing around the Big Ten’s push for 24 with the SEC representing the lone—and most important—holdout.
College sports leaders are airing their grievances on everything from postseason expansion to eligibility concerns. Sports Illustrated examines these complaints and where the sport is headed.
![Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko said Tuesday, “I want 40 [teams in the playoff] because then I’ll make it and then I won’t get fired.”](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3930,h_2210,x_0,y_45/c_fill,w_540,ar_1:1,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images%2FImagnImages%2Fproduction%2Fsi%2F01ksjzctfydy27xge03h.jpg "Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko said Tuesday, “I want 40 [teams in the playoff] because then I’ll make it and then I won’t get fired.”")
