Ohio State Buckeyes: What do players think about a 12-team playoff?

There are questions, though.

Where should the games be played?

How late into January will the season stretch?

What will the impact be on the other bowls, let alone the regular season?

And the biggest: Is asking players to play 16 or even 17 games too much?

Junior defensive end Zach Harrison indicated perhaps that’s not a yes or no question.

“It’s definitely going to take a toll on your body, but that’s football,” Harrison said. “Football’s a tough sport, and often times the most healthy team at the end of the season is going to win the most games. I wouldn’t say that’s a knock against an expanded playoff. That’s just something that needs to be factored in for the decision-makers.”

Senior tight end Jeremy Ruckert had a similar response.

“I definitely start to feel it toward the end of the season anyway, so if they did decide to do that, you’d have to start really preparing for that as far as taking care of your body a lot differently,” Ruckert said.

“For a college athlete dealing with school and all that stuff, I think it would definitely be mentally tough, physically tough,” Ruckert added. “It’s just working on how to manage that and how to maximize your body and everything like that is something that you really think of. It could be done, but it would definitely be tough.”

Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith, who played at Notre Dame in the 1970s and has served on the College Football Playoff committee, looked at total practice time as a bigger issue than total games played.

“Players want to play — they don’t want to practice,” Smith said. “So when you get to that time, what are the practice rules? How do they protect their bodies? That has to be continually looked at.”

To that end, coaches could dial back practice time later in the season.

Or they could even practice less all season.

“In the NFL you get to practice like once a week wearing pads,” OSU left tackle Thayer Munford said. “With us, we practice like twice a week in pads, and that wears on our bodies as well. We want to play, but also at the same time, we need to rest too to make sure we’re going to be ready for the end of the season and actually don’t be injured.”

Ohio State coach Ryan Day, whose team has made the four-team playoff in both of his season as the leader of the program, admitted he would like to know he has some margin for error entering the season.

That would affect how he approached the season, especially in a year such as this.

Not only will Day be breaking in a new quarterback, he will have to do it with a pair of potentially tough games to start the season. The Buckeyes travel to Minnesota, projected to be a top 40 opponent, for their opener before coming home to face an Oregon team that could be ranked in the top 10.

“I like having a little wiggle room in there — for a lot of reasons,” Day said. “One — for my sleep and my anxiety level, to be honest. You lose a game in the beginning of the year, you’re out. So knowing that maybe if that happens, you can still go on and play in the playoffs would make for a little bit better nights, a little less anxiety.”

On top of that, more games could have playoff implications later in the season.

“I think that will be one argument to have that 12-team or even eight-team playoff,” Day said.