Under a proposed 12-team College Football Playoff field that leaked last summer, lower-seeded teams would be the home team.
Many Ohio State fans lauded the proposal as it presents the likelihood of a southern program leaving its cozy, warm confines to play in the bone-chilling Midwest cold.
But count Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith out when it comes to supporting the notion.
Smith, according to Cleveland.com, prefers moving home playoff games indoors in the interest of player safety.
“I want a clean environment,” he told the website. “I don’t want a hard surface for players. I know fans would love to have it in the Shoe where it’s snowing and we’re playing whoever.”
Frozen playing surfaces, which are a common occurrence in outdoor contests in colder parts of the country, create a greater danger, according to the AD.
“But that surface is a whole new ball game,” Smith said “I would prefer to have the indoor elements and have a clean field.”
He hinted that the Buckeyes would have the upper hand if games were played indoors.
Last Thanksgiving, Ohio State dropped a pivotal conference matchup against bitter rival Michigan on the road as Michigan Stadium was blanketed in snow.
According to Cleveland.com, had the new format been implemented last year, opening-round playoff games would’ve followed conference championship games in the beginning of December.
Researchers with Ohio State’s College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Sciences determined that ground temperatures fall under 40 degrees at that time.
If it were up to Smith himself, Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium would serve as a suitable venue for matchups free from the harsh winter elements.
“I know our fans rally around that and they’d like to host Alabama up here (in December), but now we have the flexibility to move into domes . . . I think that’s important because who knows what the inclement weather could be like at that time of year in any of our places in the north, so we need that flexibility,” he said, according to SI.com.
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