By Shawn BERMAN
Staff Writer
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Last Tuesday, the College Football Playoff committee released their first official rankings of the season.
Unlike the former BCS standings, which used computers, points, and percentages to help determine the best teams in the country, there is no math involved in these rankings.
There are 13 people who decide the best four teams in college football. The people who vote come from various backgrounds, including current athletic directors, coaches, administrators, sports writers, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is the only woman.
The voting process is quite intricate. According to the College Football Playoff’s official Web site, the steps are as follows:
1. Each committee member will create a list of the 25 teams he or she believes to be the best in the country, in no particular order. Teams listed by three or more members will remain under consideration.
2. Each member will list the best six teams, in no particular order. The six teams receiving the most votes will comprise the pool for the first ranking step.
3. In the first ranking step, each member will rank those six teams, one through six, with one being the best. The three teams receiving the fewest points will become the top three seeds. The three teams that were not seeded will be held over for the next ranking step.
4. Each member will list the six best remaining teams, in no particular order. The three teams receiving the most votes will be added to the three teams held over to comprise the next ranking step.
5. Steps No. 3 and 4 will be repeated until 25 teams have been seeded. There will be seven rounds of voting; each round will consist of a “listing step” and a “ranking step.”
All members on the committee are in some way connected to at least one of the schools, meaning they are “recused” from voting for them.
According to the College Football Playoff’s official Web site, the rules for “recused” committee members are as follows:
“A recused member shall not participate in any votes involving the team from which the individual is recused. A recused member is permitted to answer only factual questions about the institution from which the member is recused, but shall not be present during any deliberations regarding that team’s selection or seeding. Recused members shall not participate in discussions regarding the placement of the reduced team into a bowl game. Any recused member can participate in Step No. 1, but cannot list the team for which he or she is recused. Recused teams (i.e., teams for whom a member has been recused) receiving at least three votes in Step No. 1 will remain under consideration. A recused member can participate in Step No. 2, but cannot list the recused team. If a recused team is within one vote of advancing to the pool, that team will be pooled with the team (or teams) receiving the fewest votes. A “tie-breaker” ranking vote will be conducted among those teams to identify the team or teams that would be added to the pool. A recused member cannot participate in Step No. 3 if the recused team is in the pool.”
Now, let’s move on to the rankings. The top four teams, in order, are Mississippi State, Florida State, Auburn, and Ole Miss. The first two out are Oregon and Alabama. Three out of the top four teams are from the SEC. There has been a lot of gripe over the apparent SEC “bias” lately, and to be completely honest, it’s blown out of proportion. The SEC is the best conference in football and that’s not even up for debate. But let’s take a chill pill for a minute and step back.
Mississippi State still has to play Alabama and Ole Miss, so you figure at least one of them will be eliminated from playoff contentions. Ole Miss and Auburn played this past weekend, so one of them will be out of the top four. Florida State struggled with Louisville Thursday, so they might drop a bit. I think by the time the SEC is done beating up on each other, we are going to only have one or two SEC teams in the top four, meaning there’s still plenty of football left for Oregon, Kansas State, TCU and Michigan State to make a case to be included in the fiesta.
Personally, I think Alabama will be the lone team to represent the SEC. Alabama looks to be the best team in the nation as of late, and could beat any of these teams in the top four (or any team) on a neutral field.
One thing that surprised a lot of people was that Notre Dame was ranked tenth. The problem with Notre Dame is they haven’t beaten anyone. They have a “good” loss against Florida State, but it’s still a loss, and you don’t get points for losing.
Overall, the rankings look good so far, and I think the playoff system will be a lot more consistent and fulfilling than it was during the whole BCS era. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl (both semifinals) on New Year’s Day.
