The Oregon Ducks are moving on in the College Football Playoff after a 51-34 win over James Madison, but head coach Dan Lanning isn’t exactly celebrating the way the postseason is structured. With the Ducks now preparing to face Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, Lanning made it clear: the current 12-team playoff format isn’t doing teams like his any favors - especially when it comes to scheduling and home-field equity.
Lanning’s biggest gripe? The location of the next game.
Despite Texas Tech being the higher seed, the Red Raiders won’t host the Ducks on their own turf. Instead, the matchup will be played at a neutral site - Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
For Lanning, that’s a miss.
“In my opinion, we’re really excited to be going to the Orange Bowl, but this game should be played at Texas Tech,” he said, not mincing words.
Lanning’s argument is rooted in fairness and consistency. He believes that if the playoff is going to reward seeding, it should do so across the board - including home-field advantage. That’s how it works in high school football playoffs across much of the country, and Lanning sees no reason why college football shouldn’t follow suit.
“They’re the higher-seeded team,” Lanning said. “We should play a week, like right after the first game, the next game should be the next Saturday and the next playoff game should be the next Saturday, then a championship game.
We’re trying to fit a lot of things in a different sequence. But in my opinion, this game should be played at Tech.
It should be a home-field advantage for them.”
It’s not just about venue - it’s about rhythm. Lanning pointed to the awkward timing between games, especially compared to the short turnaround teams faced in the opening round.
The Ducks, along with Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M, hosted games in the first round. Oregon and Ole Miss advanced, while the Sooners and Aggies saw their seasons end.
Now, the Ducks are heading across the country to play a higher-seeded team - and Lanning sees a disconnect.
“I think that was clear last year,” he said, referencing the tight scheduling crunch. “Certainly, it’ll be clear now.
You’ve got a little bit more time to prepare now, obviously, than you did the last one. That’s the other part that doesn’t make sense - the sequence of days in between each game.
There just really isn’t a rhythm.”
That lack of rhythm, Lanning argued, creates an uneven playing field. Teams are dealing with different rest periods, different travel demands, and different levels of preparation time. And in a sport where preparation is everything, that matters.
“How do you say, ‘OK, how do we keep things the same as much as possible for our players?’” Lanning asked.
“It’s tough when you have big gaps and breaks like that. But I know that it’s a sided advantage for one team or the other.
You’re dealing with different issues.”
At the heart of Lanning’s frustration is a desire for a more logical, more player-friendly postseason - one where the structure makes sense, the rhythm is consistent, and the higher seeds get the advantages they’ve earned.
Put simply: “The way we do playoffs in college football is messed up,” Lanning said.
Oregon and Texas Tech will square off in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve, with kickoff set for noon ET. While Lanning and the Ducks are focused on the task ahead, his comments have lit a spark in the ongoing conversation about how the College Football Playoff should evolve - and who it should truly benefit.