The selection committee for the College Football Playoff sure is going to have a potentially time-consuming task on their hands when it comes time to determine the top 25 teams in college football. The voting process to determine the committee’s top 25 ranking, which will be shared every Tuesday night starting in late October, is nothing short of tedious.
Here is how the top 25 ranking will be determined by the selection committee every Monday starting in late October.
1. Each member of the committee will list his or her top 25 teams in the country. This is a simple list of 25 teams with no specific order to determine highest ranked teams. Schools must appear on at least three lists in order to be given further consideration.
2. When it comes time to seed teams, each committee member will list his or her top six teams. The six teams with the most votes will be used for the seeding ballot.
3. The six teams appearing on the seeding ballot will then be ranked by each committee member, with one being considered the top team. Once all ballots are submitted, the three teams receiving the fewest votes will be eliminated from consideration. The three remaining teams with the most votes will again be seeded by the committee on a second ballot process.
4. The committee will then focus on the next six best teams. Committee members will rank the six best teams left to use, in no order. the three teams with the most votes in this process will follow the three top-ranked teams as determined in the previous step.
5. Repeat previous two steps until all 25 teams have been ranked.
What is not mentioned above is the recusal policy, which will forbid any member of the committee being paid by a school under consideration or discussion from casting a vote. Also left out in that five-step process is the time that will be taken before each vote to review, analyze and debate the options up for a vote at any particular time. Fortunately the committee will increase the number of teams per ballot once the top nine teams are seeded according to protocol. That should help make up some time, but could also allow for more discussions and debates before casting a round of votes.
Of course, by the end of the season all of these rankings organized in the middle of the season could all be for nothing if the committee focuses on the best teams and not the most deserving anyway.
Helmet sticker to USA Today for sharing the detailed voting protocol.