Are you ready to see the College Football Playoff expand to eight teams? Sixteen?
Here’s a new one: How about 11? That’s what Michigan football’s Jim Harbaugh has sketched out and shared with ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
As you can (hopefully) see in the photo, Harbaugh’s idea features 11 teams and 15 games played from early December through early January. He proposes eliminating conference championship games for the Power 5 leagues and having them determine their conference champions with their standard 12-game schedule.
Each Power 5 champion would make the playoff along with six other teams determined through the old BCS system and strength of schedule. Seeds 6-11 would face off on what is now the conference championship weekend, while the top-seeded teams would wait till the following week to play.
Harbaugh also argues that no team would have to play 16 games in a season — reducing wear and tear for the players — though that would not be true if a team seeded 6-11 made it all the way to the national championship game.
