Auburn's Bryan Harsin: 12-team College Football Playoff 'creates some excitement'

AUBURN — Bryan Harsin has voiced his support of College Football Playoff expansion in the past, and after the recent announcement that a 12-team format is coming, the Auburn coach remains encouraged about what it could mean for the sport.

"It's going to change, certainly, how teams are operating or at least what they're thinking when it comes to that time (later in the season in November)," Harsin said Wednesday on the weekly SEC coaches conference call.

Harsin, who was Boise State's coach from 2014-20, pointed out a few details that will be necessary to iron out in finalizing the new system, but he said it's a positive development overall.

"We'll see. I think right now it's one of those changes that will end up being a good thing when it's all said and done," he said. "And I think it probably creates some excitement. ... I don't know all the details. I'm sure there's a lot of stuff that's got to be tweaked to make sure that it's doable, manageable and certainly fits within the college world. In a pro sport, it doesn't matter. But you have school and you have other things, and you've got to work through some timing. I'm sure they've got all that all figured out. That's probably the biggest thing to me. Just from a time standpoint of classes, when they start recruiting, that plays a big factor in it. And then obviously the playing and the amount of games."

In the new structure, the four highest-rated conference champions by the College Football Playoff committee will receive first-round byes. The first round will match the other eight teams at the home field of the higher-ranked team.

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Harsin was Boise State's offensive coordinator for one of the most pivotal moments in the long history of championship expansion debate in college football. The 2006 Broncos had a perfect regular season but were kept out of the national title game within the two-team BCS system because they were a smaller program. Boise State proceeded to upset Oklahoma in a classic Fiesta Bowl that made the case for broadening the field. The BCS ended after the 2013 season.

In Harsin's seven years as Boise State's head coach, the Broncos finished the season ranked in the College Football Playoff top 25 four times.

"I think people are excited about it," Harsin said of expansion. "I know people a lot smarter than me worked on it. It's going to give teams an opportunity to get in the playoffs and have a chance to win those games and then go on and play for a national championship that probably wouldn't have had it before."

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Why Auburn's Bryan Harsin supports 12-team College Football Playoff