Nick Saban 'definitely' hopes for more on-campus College Football Playoff games

While the new 12-team College Football Playoff does include home field games for the four first round contests, the on-campus matchups stop there. The quarterfinals, semifinals and national championship are all neutral site games, with most tied to existing bowl games.

But were he still coaching, Nick Saban would want his team to get a chance to play at home — perhaps even at the expense of a bye week. He explained his logic behind that theory and desire to see the CFP expand the amount of home games for higher seeded teams on Friday on “The Pat McAfee Show.“

“I would. I’d definitely rather have home field advantage and play a game at home than having a bye, because you have time at that point in the season to recover anyway,” Saban said. “So is it an advantage to have more weeks off and try to get into the game or play more in a rhythm and go ahead and play and have a home field game?”

As the calendar is currently constructed, the first round of the CFP will be played two weeks after conference championship games. The Top 4 teams will have byes that week and begin play in the quarterfinals at associated bowl sites, while seeds No. 5-12 will face on in a quartet of on-campus games, many perhaps in foul winter weather in the north.

So between potentially having a three-week layoff leading to a rusty team, and giving up a chance to play in front of a home crowd in the postseason, Saban isn’t sure that the current construction of the College Football Playoff actually is preferable for those Top 4 teams.

“I think in college football, especially with the big stadiums in the Big Ten and the SEC and all over the country, really, having a game at home is a huge advantage,” Saban said. “And if you’re a higher-ranked team, that should be something that you’re able to take advantage of. So I absolutely think however they do it, there should be games played at home until maybe the semis.”

While it’s hard to imagine Saban would coach his team to not win a conference title to therefore avoid a long layoff and bye, he at least in theory thinks it could be the smarter path. Most of all, he thinks this hasn’t been a topic that’s been broached often enough.

“And I think the other question that we haven’t discussed much is ‘Would you rather have a bye or would you rather have home field advantage?'” Saban said.

And if Saban’s answer is seeking out the home field advantage, he’s surely not the only coach — current or former — who feels that way.