Last year, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith made some pretty surprising comments regarding potential College Football Playoff expansion revealing that if future playoff games were ever hosted by individual teams, he would choose for the Ohio State Buckeyes to play in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis instead of in the open-air Ohio Stadium on Ohio State’s campus. But now, it appears as though he has changed his mind.
Now that College Football Playoff is set to expand to 12 teams in 2026 with the opening round hosted by the higher seed, Smith told The Columbus Dispatch that he is now “fine” with the idea of Ohio State hosting a playoff game in Ohio Stadium.
“The more I’ve listened to my colleagues and considering all the issues everybody brought up, I’m fine with playing on a campus site,” Smith said.
Smith’s biggest concern when he made his initial comments was the winter climate in Columbus, Ohio. Smith was concerned about player safety on potentially frozen turf and the logistical challenge of preparing the stadium for such a cold weather game. But after some thought, Smith thinks that those concerns were overblown.
“But when you look back at the (mid-December) weather over the last 10 years, it’s not that bad,” Smith said.
Still, Smith hopes that Ohio State never has to worry about this. Because if the Buckeyes are ever hosting an opening-round game of the College Football Playoff in the future, that means Ohio State would not be ranked among the top four teams.
“Hopefully, we’re never in the (round-of-12),” Smith said.