While there’s plenty of talk of changes to expand the College Football Playoff, Oregon coach Dan Lanning wants one thing fixed: the schedule.
Lanning told ESPN at the Big Ten media days he wants the playoff to mirror the NFL with a shorter layoff from the end of conference championship week to the postseason and the national championship game to be played on Jan. 1.
‘I’d be in favor of creating our playoff system to mirror every other playoff system in sports,’ Lanning said. ‘The season’s over, and the playoffs start shortly after. The long break is something I’m not crazy about. I wish we played every single Saturday in college football. I wish college football ended Jan. 1.’
It’s something that Lanning can certainly attest to. Last season, the Ducks finished the regular season undefeated and won the Big Ten championship game. They were the No. 1 seed in the playoff, but had a first-round bye. Oregon waited 25 days before facing Ohio State in the quarterfinal match at the Rose Bowl, and the Ducks trailed 34-0 and were soundly beaten by the Buckeyes. All teams that received first-round byes in the new 12-team playoff lost in the quarterfinals.
Lanning didn’t excuse the season-ending defeat, but noted ‘it’s almost a month’ between playing games.
‘That’s a long time,’ he added.
Lanning’s ideal schedule involves starting the regular season at the current Week 0, which starts Aug. 23. By starting the season earlier and starting the playoff the week after conference championships, it would lead to the national championship game on New Year’s Day.
In the first edition of expanded playoff, the national championship game was played on Jan. 20. Lanning feels it is scheduled too late, and doesn’t allow coaches to hit the ground running on off-season recruiting. The College Football Playoff also ran concurrent with the NFL postseason.
‘There’s just some things where I don’t think the season aligns with the calendar in a lot of ways, and I wish I would speed up,’ he said.
Altering the college football calendar has certainly been mentioned as the talks for expanding the College Football Playoff to 16 teams heat up. Currently, teams playing in Week 0 must be granted a waiver by the NCAA.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips previously said starting in Week 0 should be considered. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told Yahoo Sports in June the sports should have a consistent opening weekend, and although Labor Day weekend has ‘been a good start date,’ he’s open to making changes.
‘The fact we are taking another look at it could be interesting,’ Sankey said. ‘I’m not opposed to that. I want to make sure it’s a broad view of the issues and not something narrow.’
This season’s College Football Playoff pairings will be announced Dec. 7 and play will begin on Dec. 19, 13 days after conference title games. Teams with first-round byes will play on Dec. 31 or Jan. 1. The national championship game is on Jan. 19.