To compare, the FCS level now lets in 24 teams with the top 8 receiving a bye. Most play an 11-12 game regular season, with 12 being the new number teams go with.

14 hours ago, Bluegrasscard said:

Would people accept a compromise and go back to a 10 game schedule overall to offset this expansion of the post season and keep the overall time frames similar? 

 

 

 

 

 

I wouldn't be against a 10 or 11 game regular season.  If your conference had 12 teams, that'd allow you to play all 5 teams in your division, and rotate 3 (half of the 6) in the other division.  That'd allow you to schedule 2 or 3 out-of-conference opponents, if you wanted to build your resume or get your team some experience against a worthy opponent.

Then play your conference championship game.  Heck, do what they did this year, and allow for all conference teams to play that week, matched up against their equivalent "seed" from the opposite division.  That way every team plays that weekend, and some get a chance to make a name for themselves against an opponent they're not necessarily guaranteed to always play during the regular season.  That puts everybody at 11 or 12 games.

With a 16 team postseason field, you're looking at a max of 4 more games, and that's only for 2 schools.  In 2021, there are 18 weekends, starting with the first Saturday of September and going until the first Saturday of January.  So, more room to build in "bye" weeks during the regular season, or heck even if you wanted to give everybody a week off between conference championships and the start of the playoffs, or between the semi-finals and finals.

Div. III plays 10 regular season games and now has a field of 32 teams in their playoffs.  So, they've got kids playing up to 15 games a year right now.  Last year, Wisconsin-Whitewater played those 15 games in 16 weeks.

Thirty years ago, teams played 12 games total after bowls.  Last year, LSU played 15.  This can be done, and it can be done easily.