Enlargement could possibly be on the horizon for the School Soccer Playoff, and Ryan Day is lobbying for extra assured Huge Ten illustration.
A 16-team playoff format is gaining traction for 2026 and past, and the Ohio State head coach believes his convention ought to have a number of computerized spots annually.
“I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers,” Day informed ESPN this week. “We’re in the Big Ten, and we have 18 teams and some of the best programs in the country.”
The Buckeyes are coming off a nationwide championship after enjoying via a 12-team area that featured three different Huge Ten groups: Penn State, Indiana and Oregon.
Day hopes that this will probably be an annual prevalence in a bigger bracket.
A 16-team mannequin that might characteristic the top-five convention champions and 11 at-large bids gained assist on the SEC spring conferences final week.
However, within the format Day helps, each the Huge Ten and SEC would every have 4 auto qualifiers, with the ACC and Huge 12 every getting two, and the highest Group of 5 champion additionally incomes a assured spot.
Three at-large spots would spherical out the sphere.
Day pointed to the truth that the Huge Ten added the highest applications from the Pac-12 in its latest growth: USC, Washington, Oregon and UCLA.
Washington and Oregon have been the one two groups from the Pac-12 to have made the CFP through the four-team playoff period.
“You would have had at least a team or two [in the CFP] from out there,” Day mentioned of the unique Pac-12. “So it only makes sense when you have 18 teams, especially the quality of teams that you would have [in] that many teams representing the Big Ten.”
For the 2025 season, the playoff will retain its 12-team format, with the highest 4 groups within the ultimate CFP rankings incomes first-round byes.
That marks a slight change from final season, when the 4 highest-ranked convention champions obtained byes.
