After leading Ohio State to a national championship in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, the head coach wants to see future CFP iterations feature at least four automatic qualifiers for the Big Ten.
"We're in the Big Ten, and we have 18 teams and some of the best programs in the country," Day told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. "I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers."
Last week, SEC coaches and athletic directors voiced support for a model that includes automatic entries for the top five conference champions and 11 at-large spots in a CFP that would expand from 12 to 16 teams. The Big Ten has not advocated for a specific CFP model, but it has discussed one that would feature four teams from the Big Ten and SEC, two teams from the ACC and Big 12 and one from the top Group of Five champion.
While the ACC and Big 12 oppose the plan, Day said he’s in favor.
“It only makes sense when you have 18 teams, especially the quality of the teams that you have (in) that many teams representing the Big Ten,” he told Rittenberg.
Day added a CFP model with more automatic qualifiers will benefit college football because it will incentivize stronger non-conference scheduling, especially with the discrepancies in how conferences schedule their seasons. Ohio State opens its 2025 season against Texas in a rematch of last year’s Cotton Bowl. The game will kick off at noon on FOX.
"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."
With 12 regular-season games and four CFP games, Ohio State took the field 16 times in 2024. With hopes to keep premier matchups like Texas, Alabama and Georgia on future non-conference schedules and make deep playoff runs, Day also shared with Rittenberg that he’s concerned about the length of college football seasons with shrinking roster sizes following the impending House-NCAA settlement.
"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."
