Dan Lanning stunned college football by not just questioning the playoff format but also by backing the other side. With Oregon and Texas heading to the $250 million Hard Rock Stadium, the Oregon Ducks coach openly questions the neutral-site format and urges them to give Texas Tech a home game advantage.

“I don’t know if there’s a side advantage.” Dan Lanning said at a Monday press conference. “I think it’s just more of an indicator that the way we do playoffs in college football is messed up, right? I mean, in my opinion, we’re really excited to be going to the Orange Bowl, but this game should be played at Texas Tech, right? They’re the higher-seeded team.”

Oregon is 5th seeded team, and Texas Tech holds the 4th seed, which makes them eligible for a home advantage in Lanning’s eyes. This would have sure given the Red Raiders a massive push. As a campus site game at Jones AT&T Stadium would have erased travel and given Texas Tech control over ticket distribution. Which means far fewer Oregon fans could attend the game, similar to how Oregon limited James Madison fans to about 3500 tickets at Autzen Stadium.

With ticket sales Oregon also got a massive game advantage. With a crowd of over 55,124 people cheering for the Ducks, the atmosphere turned worse for James Madison’s players. That forced them to have six false start penalties, which is the most by a visiting team this season. But because of neutral-site rules, both teams are forced to play at Hard Rock Stadium.

This would have even reduced the travelling time for the Ducks, as they could have easily made it to Jones Stadium with 1,521 miles of travel, but now they will travel roughly 3,268 miles to Miami, while Texas Tech travels about 1,641 miles from Lubbock.

As per Dan Lanning, home-ground advantage could have helped Texas Tech big time with an intimidating environment factor, noting Jones AT&T Stadium’s noise and their recent renovation that could have helped Texas Tech to impress recruits. Even though it’s not as big and intriguing as Oregon’s Autzen Stadium, a higher-seeded team must get at least a near-home-field advantage.

With a broken neutral site, Dan Lanning also questions the scheduling timeline, which leaves no time for teams to rest and prepare for their next game.

“Like right after the last game, the next playoff game should be the next Saturday, the next playoff game should be the next Saturday, the next playoff game should be the next Saturday, and the championship game,” Lanning said.

This isn’t the first time Lanning has questioned the college football playoff format. During Big Ten Days before the 2025-26 season, he made a blunt comment on the timeline of the regular season start. As he pushed for an earlier season and an end by January 1 to reduce the rush with recruiting players, with the portal opening on the 2nd of January.

With Lanning’s plea, even Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire praised his exceptional coaching career with the Ducks.

Joey McGuire gets real on Dan Lanning’s edge

Texas Tech prepares to take down the Oregon Ducks in the quarterfinals game. Now, many expected a brutal verbal spat between the two coaches before the game, but it turns out both have immense respect for each other. Showing that for Dan Lanning, Joey McGuire makes an honest verdict on his approach that gives Oregon an edge over other teams.

“I’m a huge fan of Dan Lanning. I listen to a lot of stuff that he does. I love what he does; I think he does it right. He’s a great coach. He’s great for college football,” Joey McGuire said.  “You could just tell by the way his players play for him. They play with an edge, and they play with such a great effort.”

Joey McGuire also highlighted their explosive ground game against James Madison, which can be a real threat for them.

“And then the other thing is that they’re really impressive,” McGuire said. “They got three running backs that play at such a high level. Two are true freshmen. If they’re, you know, in their home run hitters, they’re very explosive. And we saw that Saturday in the JMU game. I mean, you look up, and they’ve already scored 30-plus points.”

McGuire’s praise sure highlights Lanning’s journey, but even struggles follow them. Oregon’s offense performed well against James Madison, where quarterback Dante Moore scored four touchdowns and one rushing TD. But he also threw two interceptions, which is something Dan Lanning and his team have to look at. They are facing the nation’s most competitive defensive units. On top of it, Texas Tech also boasts the top-ranked defense in the country, allowing just 70.4 rushing yards per game this season.

With that problem lying on the defensive side of the ball, Dan Lanning’s Oregon surrendered 323 passing yards to James Madison quarterback Alonza Barnett III. That marks the highest passing yardage allowed all season. Let’s wait and see if they can tackle all of them and win against the Red Raiders or not!