Ryan Day's CFP Plan Bodes Well for UCLA, Big Ten

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day shared his thoughts on the structure of the 16-team College Football Playoff, and his idea would benefit UCLA and the rest of the Big Ten in the future.

Following last week's SEC spring meetings, automatic bids ahead of next year's expansion to 16 teams in the CFP have been a hot topic. The main idea gathered from the meetings was giving automatic entries to the top five conference champions and reserving the last 11 spots for at-large selections.

Day, who won the first ever 12-teamp college football playoff, believes that the Big Ten and he SEC should have a set number of automatic bids given the quantity and quality of teams in their conferences.

"We're in the Big Ten, and we have 18 teams and some of the best programs in the country," Day told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. "I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers."

The fallout of the Pac-12 saw the Big Ten take in a ton of quality programs. Day believes that the toughness of the conference should outright guarantee them spots in the postseason.

"You would have had at least a team or two [in the CFP] from out there," Day said about the 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."

Day then went to explain that the automatic bids are important to in-season scheduling, noting that it wouldn't make sense to schedule a power-five opponent in the regular season if your record is what will get you into the postseason.

"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," Day said. "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."

Four automatic CFP bids would benefit UCLA greatly. Following their inaugural season in the Big Ten ending with a mediocre 5-7 overall record, DeShaun Foster and star QB transfer Nico Iamaleava are poised to change the trajectory of Bruin football ahead of teh expanded CFP.