Expanding the College Football Playoff from four to twelve teams did not end the debate about teams in the bubble, it simply shifted the discourse from teams with one loss to those with two or three losses per year. Of course, that hasn’t impacted Oregon this season, as the Ducks posted a 12-0 regular-season record and were ranked No. 1 in Tuesday’s penultimate CFP rankings.

While coaches at other schools spend the week politicizing in hopes of making the field when it’s announced Sunday, Lanning doesn’t even bother tuning in to the weekly rankings show on ESPN, he told the Independent this week Sports journalist John Canzano.

“I’ve never watched,” Lanning said. “It’s Tuesday anyway, right? Don’t we work on Tuesdays?”

Even though he didn’t tune in, he was clearly bothered by the arguments from people like SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Miami coach Mario Cristobal and South Carolina coach Shane Beamer about which teams deserve an at-large spot. For those schools that may be hanging on by a thread or looking from the outside and suffering two or three losses every year, Lanning has some very simple advice:

“Just win.”

“You know, there’s a secret behind all this, John. Just win. Just win. They can’t turn you away if you just win. You can’t complain when you just win. If you lose three games, shame on you.” . If you lose two, shame on you.

Lanning’s No. 1 Ducks will play for the Big Ten championship on Saturday, taking on No. 3 Penn State in their first year as a member of the conference. The winner will almost certainly clinch the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, although the loser has virtually a shot at an outright berth, so the stakes aren’t quite as high as in some other leagues.

For teams like Boise State and UNLV in the Mountain West title game on Friday, or three-loss Clemson, which can secure an automatic shot at the ACC title with a win over SMU on Saturday, Lanning’s words definitely ring true.