Dan Lanning: Current CFP format ‘messed up,’ Oregon-Texas Tech should be on campus

One thing has been made clear about the College Football Playoff in its short existence: There is no pleasing everyone.

Whether it’s the snubbing of powerhouse programs with too many losses, the inclusion of Group of Five schools, the size of the bracket, or the way everyone is seeded, there’s something for everyone to complain about.

Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning added one more complaint to the pile, saying on Monday that the January 1 CFP quarterfinal between his team and Texas Tech should be played on a college campus, not a neutral-site bowl game.

After hosting James Madison in the first round of the CFP, the Ducks will now meet the Red Raiders in the Orange Bowl outside Miami for the chance to move on to the semifinals. If it were up to Lanning, however, the game would be played in Lubbock, Texas.

Dan Lanning didn’t hold back on the CFP format:

“The way we do playoffs in college football is messed up… in my opinion, this game should be played at Tech. There should be a home field advantage for them.”#GoDucks | #WreckEm | #CFP pic.twitter.com/xZiJ8H4eW8

— Olivia Cleary (@LivCleary) December 22, 2025

“I mean, in my opinion, we’re really excited to be going to the Orange Bowl, but this game should be played at Texas Tech, right? The higher-seeded team,” said Lanning. “We should play a week after the last game. The next playoff game should be next Saturday, and the championship game should be the following Saturday. But we’re trying to fit a lot of things in, you know, a different sequence. But in my opinion, this game should be played at Tech. There should be a home-field advantage for them.”

It might be surprising to hear a head coach say he wishes he were playing a true road game against a higher-seeded team, but Lanning is speaking to the idea that the CFP should step into the college football atmospheres available to it. Playing in the Orange Bowl is nice, but the CFP has diluted its value. Not to mention, the crowd would be much more raucous on a campus, giving the higher seed a solid advantage. Instead, the neutral site neither helps nor hurts them.

There is perhaps some self-service in the request as well, as it’s fairly likely Oregon will find itself a Top 4 seed in the coming years, and they’d certainly prefer to host that quarterfinal game rather than end up at a neutral site like they did last year.

Lanning’s not alone in this complaint. The College GameDay crew all supported the idea of having more CFP games on college campuses while they were in College Station for Texas A&M-Miami.

Of the many complaints people have lodged with the CFP, it’s one of the few that makes sense, and a majority of college football fans would likely get on board with. As such, don’t expect it to happen anytime soon.