The Ohio State Buckeyes emerged victorious in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after navigating one of the toughest routes to the championship. Their journey included wins over two formidable SEC opponents—Texas and Tennessee—as well as an undefeated Oregon team, all known for their explosive talent.
In addition to their playoff run, Ohio State faced a grueling Big Ten regular-season schedule. Although critics frequently pointed to their non-conference games as a weakness, the Buckeyes still had to contend with tough matchups against Penn State, Oregon, and Indiana. With recent expansion, the Big Ten has become home to several strong CFP contenders, making Ohio State’s achievement even more impressive.
That’s why Ryan Day believes the conference should get four automatic bids into the playoffs. He recently sat down with ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg and went over the changing landscape of the College Football Playoff.
“We’re in the Big Ten, and we have 18 teams and some of the best programs in the country. I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers,” Day said.
Day has a point as well. With almost 20 programs, the Buckeyes have to play in a conference that holds some of the best teams in the country, while others like Arizona State, Clemson, or smaller programs like James Madison could run the table in significantly weaker conferences. The record doesn’t always paint the right picture, but that isn’t necessarily the point that Day is even trying to make here.
Here’s a key point in why Day believes in the automatic bids.
“Day added that a CFP model with more automatic spots will benefit the sport because it will incentivize stronger nonconference scheduling, especially given the discrepancies in conference scheduling models,” Rittenberg wrote.
There is support for the 5+11 CFP model, where there are 11 at-large spots and the top five conference champions get into the playoff, but that would expand it to 16 teams, diluting the necessary talent to actually be a CFP contender.
Nonetheless, Day has a strong case, and there will be many changes in the coming years to refine the CFP format.
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