NAMES & FACES

Jim Harbaugh

The Michigan coach would like to see the College Football Playoff expanded to 16 teams. “I would just analyze it in terms of every other sport whether its gymnastics, basketball, pro football, FCS football ... pick a sport and they have a playoff to get to a champion,” the former Stanford and 49ers coach said. “None of them start with the last four. You have a great model with the NFL with their 12 teams and a great model in the FCS with their 16 teams and they just (increased) it to 24.” Harbaugh’s Wolverines will play South Carolina in the Outback Bowl on New Year’s Day. The current playoff format has four teams, with Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma and Alabama making up the field this year.

Tom Brady

Among his many talents, the New England Patriots quarterback is apparently good at getting drivers to slow down in school zones. He is “helping” a Boston physical education teacher keep the school zone of his neighborhood safe by lending his image, in a way. Tired of drivers speeding on the street in front of his elementary school, Sam Balto placed laminated cutouts of Brady’s face on pedestrian crossing signs. After Balto watched drivers speed through the 20 mph zone for months at speeds up to 56 mph, knocking down crosswalk posts placed in the street, placing the San Mateo native’s images on the posts “absolutely” worked.