Jim Harbaugh calls for College Football Playoff expansion

The final installment of the College Football Playoff rankings were unveiled on Sunday. And while there was plenty to take away from the reveal, specifically the absence of two major conference champions, the Playoff continues to spark conversation about possible expansion.

Jim Harbaugh is certainly one in favor of increasing the number of playoff participants. The Michigan head coach, speaking to “Jamie & Stoney” on 97.1 The Ticket back on November 1, told them that he would expand the current 4-team format to a 16-team field.

UM's Harbaugh prefers 16-team playoff format https://t.co/A7VyqTDvTh via @detroitnews Interview with @JamieandStoney

— angelique (@chengelis) November 1, 2017

Harbaugh mentioned the playoff system that the FCS uses and where his dad, Jack Harbaugh, won a championship with Western Kentucky in 2002 in the then Division I-AA.

“I would change it to 16 teams,” Harbaugh told “Jamie and Stoney.” “FCS, they’ve got a great system. It’s been in place for many years. My dad won the national championship at Western Kentucky when they were I-AA in 2002. I think that’s the best system.

Jim Harbaugh goes on to mention that most other college sports have a larger playoff field, specifically basketball and the field of 64.

“If you look at every other sport, they have a playoff at every level and every other college sport does as well. It’s not a four-team. Basketball goes from 64 to the Final Four. I think that’s the way it should be done to have a national champion like they do in gymnastics, like they do in basketball, men’s and women’s, lacrosse, every other sport you can think of. And you already have the format with the FCS.”

Harbaugh even said that if it does not expand to 16 that it should at least be 12. He also describes how this would put a team playing in the championship game up to 15 games played, questioning that argument against expansion of “too many games played.”

“If not 16, then 12. It makes all sense in the world,” Harbaugh said. “You’ve got the best way to do it, a playoff. The argument against is, well they would have to play 15 games. There’s teams playing 15, 16 games already and that’s only if you’re in the championship. Our regular season right now is 12 games. You go to the Big Ten championship, that’s 13 games. You go to the playoffs, semifinals, there’s 14. Play in the national championship, that’s 15.”

Harbaugh also thinks this could make for a stronger field as some of the teams making it out of their conference may not have played some of the better teams because of the size of these larger conferences.

“Some of these conferences that are 14 and 16 teams, and you win your conference and only one team goes, one team may not have played the other good teams in the conference,” he said. “We see that already in the Big Ten. Strength of schedule is a big determination of what your record is going to be.”

We here at DSN have tinkered around the Playoff format ourselves. There has been a supposed foolproof plan put out there for an 8-team field. And, like Harbaugh mentions, having a “March Madness” feel to football is something to ponder as well.

Michigan, who is not participating in the playoff this year and would likely not be even in an expanded field, has earned themselves a January bowl game come New Year’s Day.

So what do you think, Nation? Would a larger field make for a more compelling College Football Playoff like Jim Harbaugh thinks it would?