Ryan Day says playing playoff games at home would be 'pretty fun'

The College Football Playoff expanding from four teams to 12 teams in 2024 is one of the most exciting changes in the college football landscape. But one of the most exciting elements of the change is that programs will now have the ability to host playoff games.

The top four teams in the nation will receive a first round bye, but the rest of the field will play their first round matchups in the home stadium of the remaining top-four teams. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day sat down with FOX’s Joel Klatt and discussed the new playoff format, asking Day if he’d like to see playoff games at college stadiums go beyond the first round in the future.

“You know Gene (Smith) and I have talked about that, there’s challenges that come with both,” Day said. “I think there’s arguments on both sides, but I think to think of playing a home playoff game in December at ‘The Shoe’ is pretty fun to think about. But there’s a lot of conversation to be had to get to the final decision on that.”

If the 12-team playoff model would have existed over the last decade, the Buckeyes would either have had a first-round bye or hosted a home playoff game in nine of the last ten football seasons.

There’s no doubt that Ohio Stadium brings one of the best stadium environments in the country on game day, and the stakes of a College Football Playoff game would only increase the energy. The elements will also play in the Buckeyes’ favor, as hosting a game during the winter in Columbus will likely provide a challenge for any visiting opponent.

College playoff games on campuses definitely call for excitement, but it also calls for an immense amount of planning and preparation. Between scheduling and many schools likely hosting the biggest games in program history, some of college football’s decision-makers have shed light on the array of factors that have to be accounted for with team’s hosting games.

Because of this and the second-round games already receiving bowl designations at neutral sites, expanding the campus-hosted playoff games beyond the first round will likely not be a major priority. But Day previously mentioned with Greg McElroy that any of the imminent changes in the college football world won’t impact the goals of his program.

“So it doesn’t change our goals, it doesn’t change anything here other than the fact that you want to be playing your best football at the end of the season, you want to make sure that you’re in the playoffs, but it’s gonna be important to get a bye,” Day said. “I mean that’s going to be a major advantage for the teams that get that week off and let the two other teams play. It’ll be an advantage for the team that hosts in that first round for the ones that don’t get that bye.”