Ohio State head coach Ryan Day says he wants to keep conference championship games in college football, despite the challenging schedule conference runner-ups will face in the newly-expanded College Football Playoff.

"I think what that's meant to college football, the tradition of college football and playing in this stadium, the electricity of that weekend and what it means to win the conference, especially having 18— it just means so much," Day said, per ESPN's Heather Dinich. "To take that away would be a challenge. When you look at it practically from a wider lens of the playoff, I can see the argument on both sides. But I'd like to play for the Big Ten championship. You can't replicate it. It's one of those things you don't forget."

The five highest-ranked teams to win conference championships receive automatic CFP berths under the new format, while the top four receive first-round byes.

Any team that loses a conference championship game but qualifies for the CFP, however, would miss out on the bye and could only win the national championship by finishing off a 17-game season with four straight wins.

Of those seven teams looking to earn an at-large bid to the CFP, the programs that did not qualify for their conference championship— and therefore did not play an additional game at the end of the season— may have an easier route to the national title.

Day said he had spoken with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti about the impact of the conference championship games on the playoff, per Dinich.

During Big Ten media days earlier this week, Petitti also sounded confident about the future of conference championship games as he discussed moving future contests around the country after another four-year stint at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis wraps up in 2028.

"I think it's really important to make sure that markets around the country are able to experience Big Ten Championships," Petitti told reporters, per Tim Prangley of Trojans Wire. "It's a really good way to connect the conference. I think that over time you will start to see the geographic footprint expand, keeping in mind competitive issues."

Day has coached Ohio State since 2019. He became the first coach in program history to win two conference titles in his first two years as coach as the Buckeyes won the Big Ten championship game both in 2019 and during the shortened 2020 season.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart expressed concern last week that some teams might try to purposefully avoid playing in their conference championship game in order to gain an easier path to the national title, per Dinich. But Day's experience winning Big Ten championships appears to have convinced him that is a risk worth taking in order to allow players the chance to win a conference title.