CFP selection committee has ‘no established priority for the tiebreakers’ for separating teams

What, exactly, the College Football Playoff selection committee might consider when trying to delineate between any number of teams in the Top 25 is not an exact science. Nor is there a precision to what the CFP selection committee would strictly consider in trying to break a tie between a pair of teams for a ranking.

On a conference call with reporters after the penultimate ranking release on Tuesday, executive director Bill Hancock said there isn’t some order of priority for tiebreakers between teams, like there might be to determine a conference championship game berth. As he described it, it’s really under the purview of the committee what they ultimately consider.

“Thank you for asking. Those tiebreaker criteria are not prioritized, so it’ll be up to the judgment of each committee member which of the tiebreakers are more important to him or her. There’s just no established priority for the tiebreakers,” Hancock said.

And how the committee susses out some of the finer margins will certainly be of note. There are currently four undefeated teams — Georgia, Michigan, Washington and Florida State — plus four one-loss teams — Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Alabama — all vying for the four slots.

Seven of the eight teams, Ohio State excluded, will have the chance to be conference champions by next Sunday when the committee meets again, a big point of emphasis for the group. And if the four undefeated teams win their respective conference championship games, the decisions could get quite easy for the committee.

But if the likes of Alabama and Oregon win, the committee could have a knotty situation to sort out, and one where there isn’t a clear precedence for certain tiebreakers among teams.

Selection committee chair Boo Corrigan didn’t want to get too far ahead of things, though.

“Just to add on to that, there’s so many great games coming up this weekend. Seven of the eight teams are playing in conference championship games, and quite frankly, we’re all looking forward to watching them. It’s been a great year this season, and we’re looking forward to seeing how it all ends up,” Corrigan said.

The committee is looking for the ‘best’ teams

Hancock actually went so far as to dismiss the notion that the “most deserving” is a concept the committee even considers. His answer was as brief as it was certain.

“I appreciate your asking that question. It is best. Most deserving is not anything in the committee’s lexicon. They are to rank the best teams in order, and that’s what they do. Just keep that word in mind: best teams,” Hancock said.

While there might not be a “most deserving” directive there are criteria the committee considers that certain skew toward the realm of “deserving,” such as placing a high value on going undefeated and winning conference championships.