The Southeastern Conference sent a strong message to the NCAA on Friday: provide the Big Five some autonomy or they'll form their own division. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said if the Big Five conferences - which also include the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12, the Big Ten and the Pac-12 - don't get the flexibility needed to create their own bylaws, the next step would be to move to ''Division IV.'' ''It's not something we want to do,'' Slive said on the final day of the SEC meetings. My colleagues, I can't speak for anybody else, but I'd be surprised if they didn't feel the same way.'' Moving to Division IV would keep the Big Five under the NCAA umbrella while granting college football's biggest money makers the kind of power to better take care of student-athletes. The SEC, for example, would like to pay full cost of college attendance, provide long-term medical coverage and offer incentives to kids who return to school and complete degrees. More...