Ryan Day explains how Ohio State has benefitted from 12-team College Football Playoff format

Ryan Day knows if not for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, Ohio State wouldn’t be in position to play for a national championship next Monday.

The eighth-seeded Buckeyes (13-2, 7-2 Big Ten) quite literally backed into the first-ever 12-team CFP field after stumbling in the regular-season finale, losing 13-10 to hated Michigan for Ohio State’s — and Day’s — fourth consecutive loss in The Game rivalry series.

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Nevertheless, the Buckeyes responded appropriately with dominating double-digit victories through the first three rounds of the College Football Playoff en route to securing a bid to play No. 7 seed Notre Dame in the 2025 CFP National Championship Game on Jan. 20 from Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“Very, very grateful, I think everybody in the program is, to be in this situation, for a lot of reasons,” Day said Sunday during the CFP National Championship head coaches Zoom teleconference. “But I do think the new format has allowed our team to grow and build throughout the season. And as much as losses hurt, they really allow us as coaches and players to take a hard look at the issues and get them addressed. Then it’s about the business of getting them fixed as time goes on.

“I think that’s really been the thing I’ve learned about this format, which I think has been great for our players. I think it’s been great for college football.”

Prior to the Playoff field expanding from four to 12 this season, Ohio State wouldn’t have even made the four-team field based on the Selection Day rankings, finishing at No. 6 after failing to even make the Big Ten Championship game following the loss to the unranked Wolverines.

But the Playoff field was expanded just for a situation like the Buckeyes’ 2024 season, where a late-season setback doesn’t necessarily doom a team’s postseason dreams, as they might have in the past.

“Along the way, we looked at a lot of different things and metrics about playing this many games, playing our 16^th game, what that was going to be like,” Day added. “We knew it was going to be a little bit a battle of attrition at times, so depth was certainly a critical part of roster management and talent acquisition. But also how we practiced, how we played. We’ve taken all those things into consideration so we’re still really, really fresh going into the end of the season.”

Instead, Day and company were able to regroup, correct any clear deficiencies and get ready to face the unrelenting grind of a 12-team Playoff field. That included easily dispatching ninth-seeded Tennessee (42-17) in the opening round game from Columbus, getting sweet revenge on No. 1 ranked Oregon (41-21) in the national quarterfinals, and then besting fifth-seeded Texas 28-14 in Friday’s Cotton Bowl national semifinal.

Denzel Burke injury update: Ryan Day reveals Ohio State CB’s status for National Championship

Ohio State cornerback Denzel Burke didn’t play in the second half of the Buckeyes’ 28-14 win over Texas on Friday. On Sunday, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day cleared the air on Burke’s status heading into the week of the College Football Playoff National Championship.

“He’ll be available for the for the next game,” Day said of Burke. “He was dealing with an upper extremity issue that we felt like at the time, was the right thing to do to hold him.

“Obviously, we listen to the doctors and we get the feedback from Denzel, and we felt like Jermaine was playing well at the time. So that was the decision that was made. But, Denzel will be ready to play in this game.”

Before leaving the game against the Longhorns on Friday, Burke logged two tackles. As Day mentioned, Jermaine Matthews Jr. replaced Burke in the second half. Matthews recorded a career-high 47 snaps at cornerback.

While Matthews stepped up when his name was called, Ohio State will be happy to have Denzel Burke back on the field. The veteran DB boasts 45 tackles and two interceptions this season. Texas only threw toward Burke one time in the first half.

Grant Grubbs contributed to this report.