my opinion: get to 20 teams (so add two more, ideally eastern teams). Break up into 4 - 5 team divisions based on geography. BIG west BIG midwest BIG great lakes Big east i.e. Play every team in your division, so four games. Have 1 protected game from another team not in your division so like nebraska and usc would be protected, then rotated playing one team from other divisions thats not a protected series.
Example: Nebraska would be with Cockeye minnesote wisc and Northwestern. Protected game USC. then play Oregon, Illinois Maryland to get to 9 con games.