Ohio State's Ryan Day says Big Ten deserves 4 AQ spots in CFP

BleedGopher

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Per ESPN:

After winning the first 12-team College Football Playoff and a national title as an at-large selection in 2024, Ohio State coach Ryan Day would like to see future models include at least four automatic qualifying spots for the expanded Big Ten.

As college football leaders discuss the next version of the CFP, beginning with the 2026 season, there has been recent pushback against templates that include more automatic spots for the Big Ten and the SEC.

At last week's SEC spring meetings, support grew for a model that included automatic entries for the top five conference champions and 11 at-large spots in a playoff that would expand from 12 to 16 teams next year. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and league administrators last week also voiced support for the 5+11 CFP model.

The Big Ten has not publicly advocated for a specific playoff model, but it has discussed one that would automatically include four teams for the Big Ten and for the SEC, two each for the Big 12 and ACC, and one for the top Group of 5 champion. The Big 12 and the ACC opposed that plan.

"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."

Day noted how the most recent Big Ten expansion added the top teams from the original Pac-12, including the only two -- Oregon and Washington -- that made the four-team CFP and played for national titles. Washington reached the championship game after the 2023 season, falling to Michigan, and Oregon won the Big Ten last fall and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the CFP, losing to Ohio State in a quarterfinal matchup at the Rose Bowl.

"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."


Go Gophers!!
 

Shocker that the other power conferences would not be in favor of a plan to give the Big Ten and SEC 8 guaranteed spots in the playoff on a yearly basis....while only giving their conferences half as many.......
 

Shocker that the other power conferences would not be in favor of a plan to give the Big Ten and SEC 8 guaranteed spots in the playoff on a yearly basis....while only giving their conferences half as many.......
The only times a 4 team auto qualifier will help is if there are teams on the bubble. Even with a single team AQ and considering the revenue difference between the P2 and all other conferences, it will be rare not to always have at least 3 teams and usually 4 teams qualify from each of the P2s. It might even become fairly common for at least one of the P2 conferences to have 5 teams get in.
 

The only times a 4 team auto qualifier will help is if there are teams on the bubble. Even with a single team AQ and considering the revenue difference between the P2 and all other conferences, it will be rare not to always have at least 3 teams and usually 4 teams qualify from each of the P2s. It might even become fairly common for at least one of the P2 conferences to have 5 teams get in.
4 AQs are a big help when the schedule becomes 11-12 power 5 teams per year:
SEC-Big ten scheduling agreement
10 conference games
Iowa state, notre dame, etc
 

4 AQs are a big help when the schedule becomes 11-12 power 5 teams per year:
SEC-Big ten scheduling agreement
10 conference games
Iowa state, notre dame, etc
Are they really going to 10 conference games a year? I find it hard to believe either conference wants to do that.
 



Are they really going to 10 conference games a year? I find it hard to believe either conference wants to do that.
Not until they are guaranteed postseason
Once they are guaranteed 25% of the field then they no longer have to worry about records in regular season vs money
They only have to worry about money.

And the big ten playing 10 games + 1 SEC game + 1 more would make more money than the current format

But it may end with a lot of 9-3 teams. So they won’t do it until they have the auto bids
 





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