Ryan Day Hit With CFP Verdict After Sending Clear Message That Won’t Sit Well With Big 12 and ACC

When you win the first-ever 12-team college football playoff, you earn the right to talk a little louder in the room. Well, Ryan Day might be doing just that. 

After Ohio State’s victorious 2024 championship run, Ryan Day isn’t just resting on his crystal football. He’s banging the table for the Big Ten, demanding the expanded CFP system give his conference more than just a seat at the table. “We’re in the Big Ten, and we have 18 teams and some of the best programs in the country,” he told ESPN. “I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers.” But while he’s pushing politics, the Buckeyes’ QB room is raising eyebrows, and not in a good way. 

In a new episode on 247Sports on June 4, when Cooper Petagna was asked if Ohio State can win another national championship in 2025, he hit it with a blunt “No.” Then he threw in a caveat that hits at the heart of the concern — “I just think the quarterback position is gonna be interesting. Can they get that same level of production of what they got from Will Howard last year out of Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz, who we haven’t seen a lot from?” And this QB inexperience is going to be that big cloud of doubt hanging over Ryan Day’s team as they head into the 2025 season. 

After all, Will Howard’s heroics stand rather tall. He closed the chapter of his collegiate career by delivering an absolute banger in the national championship game and grabbed the honor of the game’s Most Valuable Player. He completed his first 13 passes, which happens to be a CFP and BCS title game record. Further, he threw for 231 yards, racking up 56 on the ground in some critical first-down conversions as well as tossing a pair of touchdowns. So the worry regarding the quarterback scenario is somewhat justified.

The Julian Sayin era was supposed to begin smoothly after Will Howard bolted for the NFL. A 5-star QB, smooth release, spring game MVP with 175 yards and a touchdown, he was the obvious heir. Even Howard endorsed him. But as the months progressed, a curveball arrived. Lincoln Kienholz, once the quieter contender, started stealing the spotlight. As On3’s Pete Nakos wrote, “Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has already come out and said this is a two-horse race between Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz. And at times, Kienholz, the rising junior, has looked like the better of the two.”

Sayin made his way into the 2024 Ohio State class and appeared in four games, while Kienholz didn’t throw a pass at all last season. However, in 2023, Kienholz completed 10-of-22 passes for 111 yards. Looking at Ohio State’s QB depth chart, it is clear that five-star freshman Tavien St. Clair takes a backseat as of now, as, according to the head coach, he “probably has the longest way to go” out of the three QBs owing to his lack of experience.

Even analyst Smoke Dixon wasn’t buying a national championship re-run. “I don’t think they’ll repeat a national championship,” he said. “It’s like Coop said. Will Howard’s consistency all year, and when he was needed, he showed up. The biggest question mark is we don’t know what we’re gonna get out offensively… The quarterback position, they’ll be nervous.”

And then there’s a loss of key contributors in 2024, including J.T. Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, Quinshon Judkins, and TreVeyon Henderson. Petagna added, “It’s really hard to do that. And that is not to slide that Ohio State they will be in the arena. It’s just a very difficult thing.” Now this came after Ryan Day’s bold announcement on the proposed CFP format. 

Ryan Day picks a side in the CFP politics

As the SEC spring meetings push for a new playoff model that includes five automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large spots in a 16-team format, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark endorsed it repeatedly. And while the Big Ten is yet to announce its verdict, Ryan Day is already publicly pushing back. He’s all in on what was proposed earlier — Four automatic bids for the SEC and Big Ten each, two each for the Big 12 and the ACC, one for the Group of Five, and three at-large spots. 

That model received negative feedback from the ACC and the Big 12. But Ryan Day is all for it. “It only makes sense when you have 18 teams, especially the quality of the teams that you have (in) that many teams representing the Big Ten,” he argued. “If you don’t have those automatic qualifiers, you’re less likely to play a game like we’re playing this year against Texas, because it just won’t make sense. If we do, then you’re more likely to do that, because we play nine conference games in the Big Ten. The SEC doesn’t. So it’s not equal.”

That opener against Texas, a rematch of last year’s semi-final, looms large. And so does the pressure. And without a clear QB1 and with its offensive identity in flux, Ryan Day and Ohio State face expectations that might outpace their answers.