College Football Playoff Selection Process For Dummies - 2016 edition

Q: What's the purpose of the playoff selection committee?

A: "to select the four best teams from among several with legitimate claims to participate." selection committee protocol


Q: How are they supposed to decide who the 4 best teams are?

A: There is no mandatory formula or criteria. The committee has consistently said they look at each team's "resume" or "complete body of work." According to the official protocol, one of the goals of the CFP selection committee is to allow "enough flexibility and discretion to select a non-champion or independent under circumstances where that particular non-champion or independent is unequivocally one of the four best teams in the country."


Q: If there are no rules about having to choose among the conference champions, what's the point of conference championship games?

A: To decide the conference champions.


Q: In 2014, didn't the committee put Ohio State in the playoff over TCU because Ohio State won a conference championship game and TCU didn't?

A: TCU finished the season 11-1 and Ohio State finished the season 12-1 with a 59-0 win over Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship. Some CFP critics hold onto the the old AP/Coaches poll unwritten "rule" that a higher ranked team keeps its spot or moves up if it doesn't lose, and that Ohio State jumping TCU just wasn't "right" because TCU was ranked higher the week before the Big 10 Championship game. However, the CFP committee looks at everything with fresh eyes each week and makes a new ranking based on complete body of work. CFP committee decided OSU's body of work with 1 extra dominating win over a quality opponent meant they were "better" than TCU and Baylor. The committee did not say winning a conference championship game means your automatically in over a comparable team who didn't win a conference championship game, but moving forward, it's only logical that you can expect that when it comes to two teams with the same regular season record and similar SOS's, the one that plays in a conference championship and wins will likely get the nod over a team that stays home and plays one less game.


Q: This year Penn State won the conference championship AND won the head to head over Ohio State. Why did Ohio State get selected over Penn State?

A: The committee decided Ohio State was unequivocally one of the 4 best teams based on body of work. Ohio State won @ top 10 Oklahoma, beat top 10 Michigan, won @ top 10 Wisconsin, and its only loss was by 3 points @ top 10 Penn State. Penn State lost by 39 points to Michigan and lost to 8 win Pitt. Complete body of work obviously dictates Ohio State is one of the top 4 teams in the nation.