Dan Lanning blasts long layoffs in CFP: ‘Something I’m not crazy about’
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Dan Lanning is gearing up for another season at Oregon, coming off his best campaign as a head coach. With a 13-0 regular season record, the Ducks captured the Big Ten and the No. 1 overall seed for the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.
Unfortunately, the top seed did no favors for Oregon when the final draw came out. Though the Ducks had a bye, they were matched up with the winner of Tennessee-Ohio State and were ultimately blown out by the Buckeyes in Pasadena.
Oregon was not alone, with every top 4 seed losing in the quarterfinals after receiving a bye in the first round. Now, Lanning wants to see shorter layoffs in the Playoff, telling ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg that “you’d love the rust to be knocked off when you step on the field” for those big games.
Lanning went on to describe his disdain for the long layoffs, pitching a system that would mirror other sports:
“I’d be in favor of creating our playoff system to mirror every other playoff system in sports,” Lanning told ESPN. “The season’s over, and the playoffs start shortly after. The long break is something I’m not crazy about. I wish we played every single Saturday in college football. I wish college football ended Jan. 1.”
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Lanning was asked if the long layoff affected his team entering the Rose Bowl, but he sidestepped around the question. He described the layoff as “a long time” for a healthy team but also said his team lost on the field.
“We lost. It is what it is, right? But we were a healthy team coming in. … It’s almost a month. That’s a long time,” said Lanning.
While future formats of the Playoff have been the hot topic this offseason, the schedule has also come under question after the performances of the top 4 seeds. We’ll see if the length of the Playoff and the layoffs throughout get adjusted moving forward.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
