Dan Lanning nailed exactly what Oregon Ducks and many fans want to see with the College Football Playoff at Big Ten Media Days

Oregon of course went on to lose to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal round 41-21 after they found themselves in a 34-0 hole to begin the game. Had there been (much) less time between Oregon's Big Ten Championship victory and their matchup against Ohio State, in theory the Ducks could have been a lot more physically ready to compete–not entirely cold from resting nearly four weeks.

Lanning didn't stop there with his "rust" comments. "The Playoffs [should] start shortly after [the season]", he said. "I wish we played every single Saturday of college football. I wish college football ended January 1st."

Again, more logical takes from Dan Lanning that seem spot on for multiple reasons.

One, teams won't get cold like Oregon did waiting several weeks to play their next game(s). Two, If the season ended January 1st the College Football Playoff would not have to compete against the NFL Playoffs for viewers and could perhaps schedule their playoff matchups on days that fans are used to watching games (on Saturdays). And three, the January 1 end to the season would allow for all players to properly make decisions for their future in every way.

All possible transfers could actually wait until the end of their season to make their decisions in order to switch schools and enroll in time for the next semester.

NFL Draft eligible players would be done well ahead of the deadline to declare, giving them plenty of time to commit to various all star games that fit them best (held in mid-late January).

The incoming freshman class and a potential move of the early signing period date could fall directly afterwards so that early enrollees fully understand the situations, rosters, and coaching staffs that they're committing to ahead of the spring semester.

Fans could finally ingest the sport on a timeline that made linear sense without college football's version of free agency, recruiting, and the playoff all happening at once. Everybody wins.

Lanning's idea is not completely unique to him, but it's important for voices like his to keep banging the drum so that rationality can reign supreme when it comes to how college football is structured. Let's hope decision makers at every level can come together to make this kind of College Football Playoff timeline happen, and soon.

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