Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - BIG 10 SQUAD: Tony Petitti is DRIVING college football | What this means for Iowa

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

Big Ten power flexes threaten to upend the college football landscape as Tony Petitti’s playoff expansion push sparks fierce debate. Is a 24-team playoff format diluting the sport’s intensity or driving new rivalries and storylines? Greg Sankey and the SEC’s battle for influence, clashing philosophies, and shifting narratives keep college football fans on edge. The Big 10 Squad spotlights UCLA’s prospects under Bob Chesney and the over/under debate for the Bruins’ win total. Topics include playoff ramifications for rivalry games like Ohio State–Michigan and USC–UCLA, media power dynamics, and which commissioner holds true villain status: Petitti or Sankey. Don’t miss this rapid-fire breakdown of Big Ten strategies, pivotal matchups, and why the regular season’s urgency hangs in the balance. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tony Petiti and the Big Ten just flexing their muscle across college football. What does that mean for the landscape of the sport? And how does Bob Chesney bring UCLA up from the ashes? That's today on the Lockdown Big Ten Squad. You're talking ball with the Big Ten Squad, sponsored by game time. From USC to Ohio State from Michigan to Oregon, from Nebraska to Washington, it's the local experts of the Locked-on Podcast Network, bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive.

of the upcoming Big Ten weekend. No hurt feelings and thin skin allowed. Squad up, you're part of the Big Ten Squad. Happy Thursday, everybody. Welcome to this week's Lockdown Big Ten Squad. I'm your host, Spencer McLaughlin, neutral arbiter of all things, college football, of course. Isaiah Hall of Lockdown Wolverines is here.

And then the L.A. rivalry is in the house. Mark Colkin of Lockdown, USC, and Zach Anderson, Yoximer of Lockdown, UCLA, ready to rumble once we get to the Bruins later on today's show. But Big 10 spring meetings earlier this week, gentlemen, and the same talking points are coming out of Big Ten let Tony Petiti spoke, or at least was interview. That doesn't happen very often.

Isaiah, what did you make of what messaging he is pushing for the best conference in college football? I mean, I didn't catch like an insane amount of it. is just still just like baffling to me though like what this guy is doing in terms of like pushing forward but the the topic that has been this show every week for like the last three weeks right like it's just getting tiresome and it's like I I don't want to make a playoff contention here I want to make an anti Tony Petiti contention to some degree because honestly like when you look at the fact that like he comes from like this TV executive style and he's running the big 10 arguably the most storied conference in all of college football he's running

it like he's a Fox exec that was in baseball he's running it exactly like who he is so I'm just I as someone who's covered Michigan we talked about this pre show I'm not a fan of him anyway just with his arbitrary decision making when it came to Jim Harbaugh. And like, you can make, you can make, you know, all the comments like you made in the pre, in the pre show, but there was no due process there either. And it's just, I'm just not a fan of anything that Tony Petiti does, even when he went to bat for Michigan after, you know, during the actual COI and everything. I'm just like, okay, that's a little too little too late. And then he turns around and you've got all of this nonsense happening.

I don't know. That's where I've met. It's nothing particularly insightful. Craig Scheman, locked on Big Ten, has joined us here on the squad. Thanks for showing up, Craig. Good to see him. You bet you. I'm amazed in a way at how a guy that has been in college football for just over three years.

It's just over three years to the day. And he is having as big of an impact. on the sport as any singular individual in the sports history. That's crazy, right, Craig? It is crazy and yet it's true. I mean, he arguably is the most powerful man in sports right now. Think about this a year ago. You know, it was all the SEC and the Big Ten,

we're going to take control of the playoff format and decide how we were going to move forward. And it turns out we couldn't agree. And a year ago, nobody wanted a 2014 playoff. It was all Greg Sankey and let's do 16 or whatever the case is. Now he's flipped the script. Everybody but the SEC wants the 24 game playoff, which again, I think is ridiculous. And, you know, catching the end of what Isaiah was saying, you know, coming from his baseball background,

he thinks, well, as long as we can have everybody eligible for the playoffs going in in November, you know, that's great. What he really wants is the, you know, UCLA minister. game in week nine where both teams are five and four to still think they have a chance only to get blown out. Let me better this year, Craig. I apologize. I'll use a perfect example.

Since you two guys, the USC Oregon game last year, ground zero for my argument, forget about Ohio State, Michigan or UCLA, Minnesota. That game last year, go, I believe was the second to last week of the season or close to it. And we had all this intrigue. All right, USC had to win to get into the playoffs and take this Lincoln Riley, whatever you think of them, take it to the next level. And there was an outside chance that if Oregon lost that game, despite being in the top five all year, might have slipped just low enough to not be in the playoffs.

That's the intrigue you want at the end of the season. You go to 24 playoff teams. That game means nothing because both teams already know they're in the playoffs. I mean, heck, even Michigan would have been a playoff team last year. those of us that saw with the 24 teams and those of us that watch Michigan, they weren't a playoff team. I don't want to see mediocre or good. I want to see great on great in the playoffs.

But right now, Petiti is holding all the cards. Yeah, I'm fully behind that point, Craig. Mark, you've been around since the Eisenhower administration. Have you ever seen anything like this? Well, I haven't been around that long. But, yeah, I've seen stuff like this. the Pac-12 tried to flex their muscles back in the day with their own TV network. And that's what this is all about.

That went great. Yeah, it worked out great. We're going to make all this is funny. We're going to show the country how it's done. Years later, here we are. Here we are. On the Locked-on Big Ten Squad. And here's what's so interesting.

It doesn't matter what Tony Petitie says. Just follow the narrative that the media puts out there. Because once it starts leaning one way and all of a sudden, that's what's going to change everything. We know that ESPN has exclusive rights if it stays at 12 teams. Once it goes beyond that, now all of a sudden, ESPN has to get competitive because, you know, some of Tony Petiti's friends in the TV industry at Fox and other networks, they're going to want a piece of the pie. So that's why you're getting this big push for 24 teams from the Big Ten.

I'm 90% against it. I can jump on board with 10% of the idea, but there's just too many cons to it you're going to have. As Craig mentioned, when you get towards the end of the season, not only will certain games not mean as much because they know that they're probably in with 24 teams, but then you also start to see the product start to dilute itself. Players start sitting out.

The games don't mean that much. Rivalry games start to take a hit, which we talk about on another. show but anyways there's just too many pitfalls so stick with 12 i can accept 16 but 24 way way too many i agree way too many and the the resting of players i've heard that talking point get circulated and at first you'd think well no i mean this rivalry game's always going to me but isn't isn't 2024 Ohio State the perfect example? Does anyone, sure, but some Buckeye fans care that they lost that game to Michigan as a

22 and a half point favorite. Okay, they won the national championship. I'm making that trade every day of the week and twice on Saturday. If I'm a fan, if I'm a coach, if I'm an AD, I will swallow a rivalry loss if it means you win a national championship. Mark, one more thought, and then we'll get Yoxheimer in here. Well, no, and I was going to segue to that. I mean, now what happens if USC and UCLA is number one and two in the country going into that final week of the scene?

Well, pigs will be flying through the air, so let's calm down. Okay, but I think it's more plausible than Oregon actually winning a national championship. Anyways, statistically not true, but we'll soldier on. Would players sit out that game because everybody on both teams know they're in the playoffs? And they're probably going to get a buy as well that first week. Yeah, those dynamics to be fascinating. Yoxheimer, is there any? The meetings were down there in SoCal.

Did you go stage a protest? Did you bring a sign? Let's see. First about pigs flying. I know Lord of the Flies is on Netflix. First episode specializes on Piggy. In terms of Big Ten meetings, it was at the Taryn Air Resorts. Google that where that is, one of the best resorts, most expensive, beautiful coastline resorts you can see in Southern California.

You got to bounce over some bad roadways. where Tiger Woods fell off the first time in his big crash. So if you're making all those connections. The first roll over. And then in terms of this, Tony Petiti is even more of a villain than Greg Sanky? Like, be honest.

Like, I think I kind of like Greg Sanky more. Right now, right now I am 100% more a Greg Sanky fan than Tony Petiti. And I cover a team that is in the Big Ten. And this is the Big Ten squad. We're going to examine that even further. Who's a bigger villain in college football? Tony Petiti, Greg Sankey, or Mark Colkin.

That has to be explored next year on the show. First, this episode brought to you by our friends at Indeed, workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up, inbox, overflowing in the one position you have to fill. Still sitting open when the pressure's on and you need the right hire. This is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed, sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. Skills, experience, location. So you're not just.

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And keep in mind, Sankey has been the SEC commissioner for what? 10 years at this point? eight, eight, ten years, who's a bigger villain in college football? Tony Petiti or Greg Sankey? I mean, it was Greg Sankey because he was so unabashedly pursuing things openly for that we're just going to extend SEC dominance and he still doesn't back away from that and it's certainly very self-serving. But like the thing that Petitie's doing is so much more subversive, right it doesn't even he's not even out there being like we're doing this for the big 10 anything he does whether it's that or like the private equity deal or any of those things he's not

doing any of these things that are like openly like we're trying to assert our dominance here he's doing it like quietly and subversively like a real life superhero or that superhero super villain very mocked yeah yeah i mean i mean you asked the three right like you said you said that it was was Sanky or Petiti or Colkin. I mean, it's still Colkin, but I mean, but number two, like, you know, just slightly behind him is Tony Petitie. No, we all know. I'm kidding, Mark. We all know the real villain of the world is Greg Toll of Lockdown Big 12th. And by the way, before you chime in, Craig, can anyone off, off the dome tell me where Greg Sankey did his undergrad? Does anybody have this? I'll give you,

you a hint. There are more than five words in the college name. Ooh. So it was out of country? Is that, is there a Northwest Missouri State University? All right. That's a valiant effort. That was several words. Are the words community college on the end of this? They, they are included, but they are not at the end of it. I tell you, I've never heard of this school. I was just seeing how long Sankey's been in his position since, 2015, by the way, I will give you all next month's payment, my payment next month from this company if one of you pulls this off. Well, all right.

Cayuga Community College State University of New York at Cortland. Oh, at Corland. That campus. I thought it was the Niagara campus. Yeah, right. I think they've gotten an affiliate in Albany, too. He got his master's at Syracuse. Anyway, Craig, go ahead.

Sankey or Petiti, who's a bigger villain right now? Well, I mean, it used to be Sankey all day long. We used to because, you know, everybody in the SEC had their head in the Santa. Oh, what was us? We're tougher. We are we, it means more. We just, we can't play nine conference games because we're too hard on each other. No, it's all nonsense.

It's all got out the window. It's all now in Petiti's lap now. Now, you know, there's another side of this. too. And I know, I know Petiti and Fox and everybody wants the 24 teams, but the beauty of this may be when Petiti said that his plan B was no plan B, just to stay at 12, which that may be our saving grace here that he and Sanky don't come to any kind of agreement. And we just stay at 12. I'm like the smaller, the playoff field, the better. If it's got to be 12, it's got to be 12. Let's just ride this out for a couple of years while they continue to disagree with each other.

Mark? Yeah, well, I hope you're right, Craig. I hope we can just, you know, have that stalemate and stay at 12. But USC and Notre Dame are talking again, which means you probably know behind the scenes what's going to happen. Otherwise, they don't have these conversations. You and I need to have a conversation about the way you feel about that another time. Got word back and yeah, you and I need to talk.

Good luck getting Craig to text you back. What are you talking about? I text everybody back. Except me. You're talking about. Here's a thing. And I know we don't talk politics here, but when you're on the wrong side of an 80, 20 type of thing,

you're the bad guy. And right now, the fact that Craig Sanky and the SEC want to promote nine conference games, a mandated power one, a power four out-of-conference game. And, you know, the Big Ten's kind of taking the opposite approach,

other than, you know, they already play nine conference games. something just doesn't feel right in the world when we're kind of praising the SEC and wondering what the hell the leadership of the big thing's going to that's called the worst person you know made a great point thank you mark Zach that was well that was well done lined up to you later when we get to UCLA might be good so there was a there's there's another political comparison Mark that is apt and that's that I think a lot of people feel the way

folks on either side can when they're in the minority party and they're watching politicians on the other side successfully implement the bills that they want to pass or the policy and rule changes or whatnot. And they're just sitting there going, wait, this sucks. No, I don't, no, I don't want that that to happen. And you just kind of have to sit there and go, what, what, what exactly can you do? By the way, by the way, Craig, how about, how about, how about that string of text? That's five, that's five in a row spread out over several months. Zero response. Zero.

Do you have my right number? I answered a text two hours ago from you saying I'd be on the squad tonight. Yeah, but you put that in the group. No, no, no, see, it keeps going and then eventually,

eventually you got there, but it's just, it's just selective. So good to know it's personal with me. Yeah, I know. I'd be there. And then I sent Isaiah text and I was at the big house this weekend.

Yeah, granted this is, I didn't, I didn't tell you when these, when these, when these texts were from. But my point wasn't to do right by. you by bringing those out. That wasn't my intention. So, uh, Eoxheimer.

I made a great one. Go ahead, Zahm, continue. Highlighted by worst person you know. Okay. That was where I was, that's what I was going to say. But I think the thing is for me, if we're going back to the ultimate point, namely the playoff to beyond the Sanky point, I personally take college football playoff expansion over college basketball tournament expansion. That's my hill to die on. You might disagree. You might just say no expansion, which is the correct answer for either sport. Too bad.

That's just not where we're going to go. Sanky, though, he seems to whatever he's putting out is for the betterment of the sport, which for a long time didn't seem like that was the case. And if we get stuck at 12, that's okay. If we move to 24, I have a little background having watched the 24 FCS playoff model. That didn't seem too terrible. Montana, Montana State was still epic, one of the biggest FCS rivalries. And they met in the playoff.

that meant just as much. So I think this sitting out is going to get clowned on. But, you know, I'll let you speak in a second, Spencer. Anybody else? Anybody else want to speak to have him hold on line one, Spencer? Oh, you can speak. Oh, thank you. So kind.

Thanks for having me on the show. I'm a long-time listener, first-time caller. So I understand the point you are making there, Zach. What I think you're overlooking is that the stakes for that rivalry game for the brawl of the wild between the two teams in the regular season, that didn't change for those fan base. I don't think Ohio State and Michigan would suddenly be content losing to the other or USCU, CLA, or Oregon, Washington, or any other of the rivalries that the Big Ten has. What I do contend is that the national interest in a game like that is lessened dramatically

when you know, yeah, both these teams are going to the playoffs. and there's a bunch of great college football that gets played in awesome environments at the FCS level. How many of us tune in until the playoffs? Now, Zach, for you and I, it's literally part of our other jobs in a play-by-play capacity. But it's never been, they've had this 2014 playoff forever. And guess what? More people watch the higher level of college football where the regular season urgency is maximized to the fullest extent. We're just moving towards becoming the NFL.

And I think that, I think that stinks. The one thing that I've kind of brought up before is what makes something more valuable? It is not by having more availability. It's scarcity. Scarcity makes something more valuable. Supply and demand right here, right here. Supply and demand. We all remember those charts from econ class in college.

You increase supply, price, or value goes down. Anyway. UCLA. Any value on over six and a half there, Yoxhammer? You can start us off when we get back. Perhaps to the surprise of many, the analytics and odds makers like UCLA a good amount. Zach, six and a half, the win total for your Bruins this year. For those who don't have it memorized, they start at Cal in what I'm dubbing the Calimony Bowl. Then they play San Diego State. then they play Purdue at Maryland, pretty workable start, at Oregon, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Nevada, at Minnesota, Illinois, at Michigan, and then USC. Six and a half wins. Make your case for the over here. Hammer the over with all your money, and if you go broke, it's because you didn't put in enough money. I don't know, because UCLA, the swing game for me isn't

some middle game in this schedule. We'll know a lot about UCLA by that first game. It's two first year head coaches at Cal and if UCLA wins that game, they have a path to start 3 and 0 4-0 hosting San Diego State playing Purdue, playing at Maryland. Bob Chesney in his first year at JMU put up a bunch of points at North Carolina and that was with a bunch of players already taken to Indiana by Kurt Signetti. So I expect a similar takeover from Chesney to UCLA. I see improvements in every area, especially coaching in X's and O's. Their quarterback is the same. Maybe the hesitation is the O line, but I still think a lot better play in front and beside Nico and all around with much better coaching, cohesion. It should be seven wins or somewhat of

a disappointment for UCLA this year. Mark, do you hear the pearl clutching there by Yoxheimer? or seven wins or it's a letdown for a program that hasn't won seven games since Chip Kelly left. In two years. So Cal has a quarterback with a name that I can't pronounce than UCLA. I can't pronounce I Amaliaava. I can't pronounce Eamaliava. I can't pronounce Cal's quarterback who I just think is a better. Yeah.

Well, yeah, Jaron Kiave Sangapaleta. He is better than Nico. So that was, I'm very proud of you for that pronounce you. Thank you. Thank you. So look, at Cal, that's going to be a, you're bringing in the first year coaching thing. You're on the road. You're at Cal.

You're paying Cal, I think, is still better than UCLA this year. You talk about getting on, you know, opening up 4 and O. There's a good chance you can be 3 and 1 when you get to Oregon, but 4-0 is probably pushing it. You're a 6-1 team this year. And that means you doubled last year's win total. You should ride that into the sunset, go to a bowl game. And this is what I was going to tell you. We had a conversation earlier when we did a crossover show.

And I told you the best thing for the rivalry will be for UCLA to start recruiting better. Well, congratulations. You guys are doing it. But those players aren't available this year. That class you guys are getting all, you know, hot and heavy over. They're not available this year. They're a year to two years away. So take the six wins, ride the momentum.

And we'll see in 2027 and see how good UCLA can really be. Mark is going under six and a half. Craig, what do you make of a decently workable schedule for the Bruins? You've got Oregon. You've got Michigan on there. But no Ohio State, no Indiana could be worse. Could be. First of all, for the record, the last time you individually texted me was on January 27.

Like I said, I did not, I did not tell you the dates of when those texts were said. I just don't forget. Hold on. Hold on. You corrected me. Apparently, you actually watched one of my podcasts. You said I pronounced Sam Nata's name wrong. The G is silent.

And then I gave you a thumbs up emoji because it was 1.15 in the morning, my time. So I did respond. Now, back to UCLA. I worked. I like the taxes. I worked to schedule back. and I came up with six and then I was on that first game with Cal. That's the number.

They get it. They're over. They don't get it. They're under. I got them at six. I guess put me down for just a hair under. I do expect a nice turnaround. I think Bob Chesney's a good coach and a great recruiter, apparently.

So I think good things are coming for UCLA finally. Yeah, apparently. These stats are really good players. You're going to do just fine UCLA. Well, we'll go take to the. I would do from you. That was a good one. That was a good one, Mark.

Isaiah, dare you take the over here for the Bruins? I initially was going to, but just the more I think about it, I've got the under. They've got five-year games. That's always just difficult. Cal is just that type of team. And to start you off, where you just kind of know that, like, Cal's going to probably play above their weight class in week one. They just always seem to.

It kind of doesn't matter what the regime is. like no one really looks at them and then before you know oh cow's actually kind of doing some things before they fall apart and then weirdly like i kind of talked about with maryland i know it's maryland but like maryland in the first month of the year tends to be like well look at maryland oh look at for no so sorry um but i think that like that's that's a difficult game especially if you're if you do even if you do beat cal like you got to go to maryland you got that oregon game i mean at minnesota's not easy playing at home against illinois is not easy so i've got i'm also at six honestly yeah i'm also on the uh the underside of this and i i'm glad you brought

that up by zaiah because the more i looked at those final four games the more i went wait a minute your dogs in every single one of those games illinois is not to be trifled with me Minnesota on the road is certainly far from a cakewalk. Mark, any thoughts there? And then you go at Michigan, which is a significantly better team. And then you play USC. Who's also a significantly better team? So that combined with Oregon to me is a pretty easy five losses.

And then you'd have to win every other. No stumbles against Pat Fitzgerald in his first year or Luke Fickle coaching for his life. anywhere. Yeah, I'm sorry, Zach. You can have the final word, but I got to go under here. I don't know that I'm making my Nico jersey bet that I did with Bruin fans last year, which was really

fun because I had to shell out zero of my own dollars and zero further embarrassment for a take that came to be untrue. I don't know, maybe we should revive it again. You're hitting the under again, maybe not as disrespectfully as you did last year as you've done your entire

locked on career. Whoa. Whoa. Yeah, we've got the 10 mark, which is saying something because he's got a USC flag in the background. You've just got a football. But I mean, I maybe we have to make this again if you're hammering the under just like. Well, hold on. Let me let me let me point something out here.

Why do you have a championship flag behind you for Oregon? I'm just curious. It just looks like a zero. What do these things doesn't belong in this picture? What did I do to, okay, I did take a shot at Craig earlier, to be fair. So I felt like that. I was like, what did I do? Oh, okay.

Maybe like maybe maybe a little bit in there. But Zach, as Craig and I have learned in this show, technology stores for a very long time. We could go way back. There was a point in time in my career on this network in which I picked UCLA to win 10 regular season games and they won nine. That was a darn good. And then everything went haywire and I cast them aside and I was right. What are you? Mr. Peabody and Sherman?

Is that the way back machine? Is that the movie? Is that the movie? Come on. Come on. Go back blast in the past and realize past mistakes don't produce. There haven't been any mistakes. I've been right there.

I have been right there on UCLA's record two years in a row. My pulse for the Bruins is unmatched. Absolutely unmatched. And I'm not, look, Right now, towards the end of May, I'm on the under. Maybe you'll win me over in the next couple of months. Good luck, pal. At least three crossovers, spring.

I'm fascinated. I'm fascinated with UCLA this year. Look at that. That's how interesting UCLA is. Even Mark is fascinated. And you should be. You should be. What has happened off the field can raise interest on the field.

And I think that's the case for Bob Chesney right now. Isaiah Holve locked on Wolverines, Craig Scheman locked on Big Ten. Mark Colkin locked on USC. see Zach Anderson, Yoxi, I'm locked on UCLA. I'm Spencer McLaugh and from lockdown, wherever. We appreciate everyone listening. We'll see you next time. Until then, hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day.