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Dan Lanning Proposes Big Changes to Flawed College Football Playoff Schedule

Lanning believes the College Football Playoff schedule needs an overhaul.

Tim Capurso

Lanning's Ducks will take on Texas Tech in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal on Jan. 1.
Lanning's Ducks will take on Texas Tech in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal on Jan. 1. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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On the eve of New Year's Day, on which his Ducks will take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the quarterfinal of the College Football Playoff, Oregon coach Dan Lanning spoke to reporters and, when asked, offered what he believes to be a clear solution to the 12-team playoff's much-maligned schedule.

“There's clearly a better way,” Lanning said. “And I think it really starts with the season moving up...”

Lanning, fixating on the long layoff between contests for teams—such as Texas Tech—that secured a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff, then turned to his counterpart and Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire, who said his team had last played on Dec. 6.

“Yeah, ultimately in my mind, the division for this should be [that] every playoff game should be played every single weekend until you finish the season,” Lanning continued. “Ideally, the season—even if it means we start Week 0 or you eliminate a bye—the season ends January 1.

[That] should be the last game, the championship game. And then the portal opens [on Jan. 2] and then coaches that have to move on to their next opportunities get to move onto their next opportunities.”

Lanning, Oregon among teams facing unique dilemma in College Football Playoff

Lanning has even more reason to push for changes to the College Football Playoff schedule, for he and his team have been one of the programs uniquely affected by the schedule quirks that resulted from the expansion of the playoff and the increased power of roster building through the transfer portal. Both offensive coordinator Will Stein and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi are ticketed to become head coaches at Kentucky and Cal, respectively. Ohio State offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Brian Hartline is also essentially working two jobs as he game plans for the playoff and juggles the responsibilities of a new coach at a new program.

Two current head coaches, Bob Chesney and Jon Sumrall, coached in the College Football Playoff for their old teams, James Madison and Tulane, after being hired by other programs, UCLA and Florida.

“Our national championship game this year is Jan. 19, and that's really hard to envision as a coach that's going out and trying to join a new program and start a staff," Lanning said. "It's hard for players to understand what continuity looks like and where they're going to be at and to manage that with visits, the portal, everything else that exists.

“The clear way to do that is to bump the season up and make sure these playoff games happen a lot faster.”

But with talks of further expansion to the College Football Playoff, there's a chance this all becomes more complicated before it gets simplified.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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