Ohio State football visits White House to celebrate championship
Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeye’s football team was honored at the White House for their 2024 national championship victory.
Ohio State football coach Ryan Day has weighed in on how many automatic qualifiers for the College Football Playoff should come from the Big Ten.
The national champion coach threw in his two cents about a recent raging debate about the Big Ten and SEC asking for more automatic bids for the CFP as discussions continue for what the 2026 playoff and beyond could look like.
“We’re in the Big Ten, and we have 18 teams and some of the best programs in the country,” Day told ESPN. “I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers.”
Four Big Ten teams ― Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana and Penn State ― made the first 12-team College Football Playoff field in 2024. Three SEC teams ― Georgia, Texas and Tennessee ― made the playoffs as well.
With expansion from 12 playoff teams to 16 gaining more steam, the SEC and the Big Ten are looking for more seats at the table.
The Big Ten added Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC ahead of the 2024-25 academic year to expand the conference to 18 teams. The Huskies ― then in the Pac-12 ― played Big Ten opponent Michigan in the 2023 championship game, with the Buckeyes winning the championship in 2024.
The Ducks won the Big Ten in their first year in the conference and gained the No. 1 overall seed in the CFP as the only undefeated program before losing to the eventual national champion Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal.
“You would have had at least a team or two [in the CFP] from out there,” Day said, referring to the original Pac-12. “So it only makes sense when you have 18 teams, especially the quality of teams that you would have [in] that many teams representing the Big Ten.”
Ohio State plays Arch Manning and Texas to open the 2025 season in Columbus after the Buckeyes defeated the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl semifinal last year. The automatic qualifiers would incentivize the matchup against a strong SEC foe, as more teams would be forced to schedule tougher nonconference games.
“If you don’t have those automatic qualifiers, you’re less likely to play a game like we’re playing this year against Texas, because it just won’t make sense,” Day said. “If we do, then you’re more likely to do that, because we play nine conference games in the Big Ten. The SEC doesn’t. So it’s not equal.”
Ryan Day’s problem with expanded playoffs
One concern Day has about the expanded playoffs is the limited roster numbers, which could be implemented due to the impending House-NCAA settlement. A smaller roster size could hurt teams making a deeper run, as they would have to play more games.
“I’m concerned about 16 or 17 games with a 105-man roster,” Day said. “With 120, it’s about maxed-out. You have to stay healthy, and all it takes are a couple injuries during that long of a run. But in the NFL, you can hire somebody off of waivers. In college football, you can’t. I’m concerned about the length of the season with 105.”
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