Ohio State HC Ryan Day Breaks Silence on CFP Format, Says Big Ten Deserves ‘At Least 4’ Automatic Bids

Head Coach Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes are already at the top of the world as they are the defending national champions. Also, they arguably have two of the best players in college football on each side of the ball: wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and safety Caleb Downs.

However, they are currently in the headlines for a different and ongoing battle and discussion in college football. Day broke the silence and offered his opinion on the matter.

College Football Playoff Format Discussions

There have been many discussions about the potential for the College Football Playoffs to extend to 16 teams. If so, Joel Klatt mentioned the possibility of the SEC and Big Ten automatically receiving four automatic bids for each conference.

Theoretically, it makes sense. Looking at this past year’s 12-team playoff bracket, which was the first time it had been 12 teams, by the way, four teams from the Big Ten made the playoffs: national champion Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, and Indiana.

Three teams from the SEC made the playoffs: Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee. Thus, more than half of the 12 teams that made the College Football Playoffs belong to either the Big Ten or the SEC.

Many, including Klatt, feel that those two conferences should be rewarded if the playoffs extend to 16 and those two conferences get the most automatic bids compared to the ACC and the Big 12.

 

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If approved, the 16-team playoff model would not become official until at least the 2026 season. The change in playoff format has really kicked into play, especially from members of the SEC during their spring meetings and comments made by Big-12 Commissioner Brett Yormark.

Ryan Day Gets Involved

Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day got involved and offered his opinion, agreeing that the Big Ten should have four automatic bids.

“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.”

Due to conference realignment and the PAC-12’s disbanding, the Big Ten now has 18 teams. The conference is dominated by elite programs such as Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State.

Also, keep in mind other great programs such as Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan State, which have been great in years past. In addition, other schools in the conference that are much improved are Rutgers, Indiana, and Illinois.

On top of an already stacked conference, schools like Washington, USC, UCLA, and Oregon have joined it. USC has one of the sport’s best head coaches in Lincoln Riley. Washington competed for a national championship in 2023 before losing to Michigan, and Oregon this past season won the Big Ten and was the country’s number one overall seed.

“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.”

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Day also mentions that this new playoff model would be great for the sport, making nonconference games matter much more. The Buckeyes open the season against the SEC runner-up, the Texas Longhorns. Day adds that if the conference is not rewarded with automatic bids, these powerhouse nonconference matchups would not happen as frequently.

“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.”