This coming Sunday, we will see the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff field revealed, sending several programs to the CFP for the first time.
Unfortunately, there is still a human element to the process, and they continue to use brand bias when it comes to seeding the field.
The four highest-ranked conference champions will receive first-round byes in the playoff. It’s a foregone conclusion that the presumed winners of the Big Ten (Oregon), SEC (Texas), and ACC (SMU) will all get first-round byes without any issue.
Still, the remaining Power Four conference’s champion — the Big 12 — is in jeopardy of seeing its bye handed to Boise State.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark is pissed about it, and frankly, he has every right to be.
“The [selection] committee continues to show time and time again that they are paying attention to logos versus résumés,” Yormark said on Wednesday.
Going into Championship weekend, the Broncos rank 10th in the committee’s Top 25, while Arizona State and Iowa State ranked 15th and 16th, respectively, ahead of their matchup in the Big 12 Championship.
BSU plays No. 20 UNLV in the Mountain West Conference championship on Saturday and has a 10-game winning streak heading into the weekend, their lone loss coming from a 37-34 defeat at No. 1 Oregon — their only game against a Power Four opponent.
“Strength of schedule should matter, and wins against Power 4 opponents should matter — 74% of the Big 12 wins were against Power 4 opponents this season,” Yormark said. “Meanwhile, the Group of 5 is 11-80. … In no way should a Group of 5 champion be ranked above our champion.”
To this point in the season, it’s hard to argue that the brands haven’t played a significant role with how teams are ranked. A trio of three-loss teams from the SEC (Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina) are ranked ahead of Arizona State and Iowa State, which are both 10-2. Even the argument that wins and losses matter doesn’t hold up based on that logic.
“The committee clearly focuses on the wins and loss column. Going by that principle, no three-loss team from a Power 4 conference should get a bye over a two-loss champion from the Big 12,” Yormark said.
With just one weekend left to sort things out, it appears that the Big 12 Champion is guaranteed to get in, but unless UNLV or Clemson pull off upsets, they’ll have to play in the first round. Yormark, while frustrated with how it’s gone to this point, is hopeful that the committee will get things right.
“Obviously I challenge what I’ve seen to date, and again I’m going to lean on strength of schedule. I don’t think it’s played out the way it should,” Yormark said. “But I do have trust in the committee that ultimately we’ll land where we’re supposed to land. And, you know, that ultimately will mean we’ll get a bye. … It will come down to the selection committee making that decision, but I’m hopeful it will be the right one.”
