{"id":653292,"date":"2026-05-19T23:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/653292\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T23:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T23:22:16","slug":"ryan-day-ending-big-ten-championship-would-make-the-game-more-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/653292\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Day: Ending Big Ten Championship would make \u2018The Game\u2019 more important"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ohio State<\/a> head coach Ryan Day<\/a> might be in favor of eliminating the Big Ten championship game, especially when it comes to the Ohio State\u2013Michigan<\/a> rivalry. Without a conference crown to play for, \u201cThe Game\u201d might have higher stakes.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Big Ten meetings, Day acknowledged he didn\u2019t swing one way or the other when it came to the expanded 24-team playoff idea<\/a>, but conference championship might go by the wayside. Normally, Ohio State is not in a situation where they are sneaking into the playoff via the rankings in the 20s.<\/p>\n

With an expanded playoff to 24 teams, it remains to be seen if conference championships would be used as an automatic qualifier or be eliminated entirely, depending upon how you want to break down the regular season\u2019s meaning. In Day\u2019s mind, especially with a 12-team playoff, eliminating something like the Big Ten Championship puts more emphasis on \u201cThe Game\u201d and other rivalry games down the stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it could even be more important,\u201d Day told The Athletic.<\/a> \u201cYou\u2019re playing for either a chance to get into the Playoff or a chance to get seeded high to get a first-round bye. Or, if you are already maybe predicted to be one of the top eight schools, then you\u2019re fighting for a high seed. So, all those are critically important to your success in the Playoff. I think with the elimination of the championship game, it keeps that rivalry as fierce as it\u2019s ever been, the stakes just as high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funny enough, while \u201cThe Game\u201d meant quite a bit in a year like 2024, Ohio State didn\u2019t lose their CFP positioning. Day isn\u2019t wrong that losing to Michigan could cost you a spot in the Big Ten Championship game and affect your seeding, but Ohio State ended up winning the national championship anyway. They lost to an unranked Michigan team.<\/p>\n

But, without a conference title game, Day\u2019s point makes sense in a recent \u201cGame\u201d like 2023. No. 3 Michigan beat No. 2 Ohio State 30-24 and knocked the Buckeyes out of the CFP race, when it was still a four-team bracket.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s debatable whether it\u2019s best for Ohio State \u2014 you can go back and forth on that \u2014 but it\u2019s certainly best for the conference and great for college football in general,\u201d Day said of a potential 24-team playoff.<\/a> \u201cIt engages more fan bases late in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there was four [teams], you just had to win two games. Now there\u2019s more games to be played, there\u2019s a bigger pool, a bigger field. But when you take a step away from it, you\u2019re always going to be late in the season, playing for an opportunity to be the highest seed that you can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ohio State head coach Ryan Day might be in favor of eliminating the Big Ten championship game, especially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653293,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,127030,99],"class_list":["post-653292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-ryan-day-97-manchester-central","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}