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Wasson: Is this the worst College Football Playoff selection committee of all time?
By David Wasson
Published:
The singular goal of the College Football Playoff selection committee seems simple: Rank the Top 25 teams, assign the top 12 to the Playoff bracket and assign the bowl sites.
Easy, right? I mean, we have all undergone basically the same exercise the past couple of months at water coolers or aligned in front of polished mahogany with malted beverages on top. Figuring out who the best college football teams in the land are should be about a 15-minute conversation over loaded nachos and a pitcher of suds – even if the stakes are in the 8-figure range for the participants and even more for ESPN.
That’s why there aren’t any barflies or office know-it-alls among the select few that are entrusted with this task of vast national importance. Instead, and this is a direct quote lifted from the Playoff committee’s fancy website, the CFP committee is “a talented group of 13 high-integrity individuals with experience as coaches, student-athletes, college administrators and journalists, along with sitting athletics directors, comprise the selection committee.”
But based on how that talented group absolutely bricked the penultimate Playoff rankings earlier this week, it’s very likely that soon-to-be alcoholics and unproductive co-workers could have done a better job by picking the field blind – as the decisions that august committee landed on leaves a lot to be desired.
That isn’t to imply that this group always gets it wrong, year after year. Unlike many if not most, for example, I had no quarrel last year with consigning ACC champion Florida State to the Orange Bowl for a kiddie-table matchup with Georgia – as the Seminoles were clearly not the same team that won all those games once star quarterback Jordan Travis was injured. Plus, with just 4 berths available in that iteration of the Playoff, something had to give … so casting aside wounded FSU seemed logical.
Frankly, leaving 12-1 Georgia out of the mix was more head-scratching.
In fact, it could be reasonably argued that the Playoff decision-making has been sound since 2016 – when Penn State fans had a beef with Ohio State when the Buckeyes were tapped over the Nittany Lions, only to get absolutely smashed by eventual champ Clemson 31-0. Penn State beat Ohio State and won the Big Ten championship that season.
But in 2024? C’mon.
The anger this time around, much like last year in certain respects, revolves around Alabama. Last year, what ended up being Nick Saban’s coaching swan song was retroactively viewed as a reward for the Crimson Tide – even though Alabama knocked off undefeated Georgia to win the SEC championship.
This year, the committee is poised once again to reward the Crimson Tide – this time after Alabama coughed up 3 losses under new coach Kalen DeBoer. Losing to Vanderbilt in October was one thing, and falling to Tennessee wasn’t disqualifying. But laying an egg to underwhelming Oklahoma in Norman should have been enough to earn a meaningless bowl trip instead of a coveted Playoff spot.
That impending decision (Alabama is ranked No. 11 heading into Championship Weekend, and CFP committee chair Warde Manuel infamously said teams with no additional “data points” will be re-ordered in relation to similar data point-free teams) means that Miami, Ole Miss and South Carolina are busily crying foul.
It isn’t like the committee has married hammer to nail perfectly throughout the 2024 process. Indiana, perhaps the most perplexing team in contention all season long, jumped up 3 places a couple weeks back despite playing its then-worst football against a very pedestrian Michigan team. Sure, that could have be written off as the committee real-time adjusting to undervaluing the Hoosiers the week before … but it also introduced the concept that the committee didn’t know what the heck it was doing in the first place.
That leads us back to this week’s rankings. As is the case when some argue about who was boned out of the NCAA Tournament’s 68-team field, the writing was on the wall to gripe about who ends up being No. 13 in the 12-seat College Football Playoff musical chairs.
Sure enough, the 10-2 Miami Hurricanes have the central gripe – having gotten to double-digit victories fueled mainly by transcendent quarterback Cam Ward and despite a suspect defense. Problem is, Miami had already fumbled away winnable games at Georgia Tech and Syracuse, and that combined with what the committee apparently decided was a weaker-than-thou ACC slate had the Canes left wanting.
Same with South Carolina, which won 6 straight down the stretch and was peaking at exactly the moment you’d want. The Gamecocks beat 4 teams ranked in the Top 25 in November! That includes Clemson, which might win the ACC championship Saturday. Same, to a lesser degree, was the moaning proffered by Ole Miss and coach Lane Kiffin – who waded hoodie-deep with a half-nonsensical Twitter rant about strength of schedules and winning on the road in the SEC.
Even SMU, which can actually (gasp!) win its way into the Playoff by knocking off Clemson in Saturday’s ACC title game, is preemptively whining in the event that the Mustangs lose to the Tigers and end up also being shuffled back behind the Crimson Tide.
No matter if you’re a Hurricane, a Gamecock or a Rebel or a burgeoning oil baron in Dallas, you’ve got plenty of beef with the College Football Playoff committee. Same if you have more than a fistful of common sense and reside outside the state of Alabama.
Not that it matters to those 13 people ensconced in a luxury hotel this weekend, seemingly throwing darts at a board to decide which teams are in and which aren’t. Those folks sure could use a plate of nachos and some ice-cold cerveza.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
