Ryan Day: Big Ten deserves 'at least four automatic qualifiers' into CFP

The future of the College Football Playoff and its format has been a widely-discussed subject this offseason among leaders in the sport. What the college football brass can’t agree on is the presence of automatic qualifiers per conference.

After winning the first-ever 12-team CFP this past season, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day had an easy answer for how many teams the Big Ten Conference deserves to have: 4. Although, those within other conferences such as the Big 12 and ACC have pushed back against this.

“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.”

Day cited the recent conference realignment last offseason, which saw all four major conferences take in new universities into their ranks, as a reason why the Big Ten should be allotted this specific amount. He argued that “at least a team or two” from the old Pac-12 would be in the CFP. In his eyes, “it only makes sense” for an 18-team conference to have four teams awarded a spot into the playoffs.

His argument is aided by the fact that the Big Ten earned four of the 12 spots in last year’s playoffs. That included his Buckeyes, No. 1 overall seed Oregon, Indiana and Penn State.

Whichever proposal ultimately passes through, if any, it could impact how teams piece together their schedules in the future. Those include the 4-4-2-2-1 and 5+11 models, which have different conferences backing them for various reasons. With more automatic qualifiers in the field from certain conferences, it could promote the scheduling of marquee non-conference 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.”

Whether or not the SEC will move to a nine-game schedule beginning in 2026 has been a contentious subject within the conference this offseason. Leadership within the conference haven’t been able to piece together any policies regarding the shift of total conference games per season.

Reports have stated that the SEC needs more “clarity” on the future of the CFP format, particularly in the sense of automatic qualifiers. However, conference commissioner Greg Sankey has also said that it’s “not all about the CFP.” Only time will tell what the SEC, and ultimately, the CFP decides.