The members of the College Football Playoff selection committee held their final preseason meeting on Thursday, and emerged with a protocol which included an opening line -- under "Mission" -- that begins: "The committee's task will be to select the best teams."
How will they go about picking the "best teams?" Lets move to Line 2, "Principles," which spells out the criteria committee members will use in selecting the four teams that will play for the national championship under the new system:
- Conference championships won,
- Strength of schedule,
- Head-to-head competition,
- Comparative outcomes of common opponents (without incenting margin of victory), and,
- Other relevant factors such as key injuries that may have affected a team's performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance.
College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock has said all of the 13-member committee's criteria will be considered equally and the protocol itself declares that there "shall be no limit" on the number of teams available to participate from any one conference, so decide for yourself whether to place any weight on the fact that "conference championships won" is first on the list.
Also of note here is the idea that margin of victory won't be rewarded in outcomes against common opponents, a clear wag of the finger toward running up the score, and the fact that injuries will be taken into account.
Equally important, noted later in the document: "There will not be one single metric to assist the committee. Rather, the committee will consider a wide variety of data and information."
The committee will meet weekly beginning on Oct. 27-28 to produce 25-team rankings each week before the final selection. Committee members will be assigned to gather information from the conferences and schools, and the voting process will involve "a series of ballots through which the committee members first will select a pool of teams to be considered, then will rank those teams." Their ballots will then be compiled into a composite ranking.
"We have made tremendous progress during the off season in preparation for the significant task at hand come this fall," Jeff Long, selection committee chair, told Sports Illustrated. "Our members are looking forward to the new era of college football and the role we will play in determining the rankings and matchups for the College Football Playoff. It's a thrilling time and each one of us is honored to be a part of it."
The document also included a list of approved recusals for the 2014-15 season, meaning these committee members will be excused from voting on the following schools:
- Air Force - Mike Gould
- Arkansas - Jeff Long
- Clemson - Dan Radakovich
- Mississippi - Archie Manning
- Nebraska - Tom Osborne
- Southern California - Pat Haden
- Stanford - Condoleezza Rice
- West Virginia - Oliver Luck
- Wisconsin - Barry Alvarez
You'll note that Tyrone Willingham, for instance, will not have to recuse himself from Stanford or Notre Dame, teams that he previously coached, because he is no longer active.
That's because the recusal policy states committee members are to be recused only if they or any immediate family members are compensated by a school, provide professional services for a school, are on the coaching staff or administrative staff or are a football student-athlete at a school.
As already noted, when the four playoff teams are selected, they'll be seeded and paired 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 for the semifinals in the Rose and Sugar Bowls, with the following caveat:
"When assigning teams to sites, the committee will place the top two seeds at the most advantageous sites, weighing criteria such as convenience of travel for its fans, home-crowd advantage or disadvantage and general familiarity with the host city and its stadium. Preference will go to the No. 1 seed."
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