College Football Playoff Selection Committee Prepares for 2024-25 Season

8/15/2024 2:30:00 PM

The College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee met this week in preparation for the upcoming season.

"It is always great to get everyone together before the season starts to welcome our new members and review our procedures in detail," said Warde Manuel, Athletics Director at the University of Michigan, who will be serving his first year as committee chair. "The work of the College Football Playoff selection committee has a solid foundation with its processes and protocols, and the committee members are looking forward to ranking the top 25 teams this season as we kick off the first year of the 12-team format."

The selection committee reviewed the schedule for its weekly ranking announcements, went over its protocol, and finalized its list of members who will be recused from voting or discussions regarding selected teams.

One change was made to the CFP Selection Committee protocol for the upcoming season. With the expanded 12-team playoff format, the CFP Management Committee allocated spots in the playoff field for the five highest-ranked conference champions, emphasizing the importance of winning that title. Because that recognition is now embedded into the process, it was decided to remove the conference champion designation as a selection criterion when serving as a tiebreaker between comparable teams.

The selection committee will announce its first of six rankings on November 5. The committee members will convene in person on Mondays and Tuesdays, revealing their rankings each week on ESPN.

The final selection committee rankings of the 2024 season will be released on Selection Day, Sunday, December 8. At that time, the committee will also announce the 12-team playoff bracket pairings and game sites.

Below is a complete schedule for the selection committee to announce its rankings on ESPN:

DATE	TIME
Tuesday, November 5	7 – 8 p.m. ET
Tuesday, November 12	9 – 9:30 p.m. ET*
Tuesday, November 19	7 – 8 p.m. ET
Tuesday, November 26	8 – 9 p.m. ET
Tuesday, December 3	7 – 7:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, December 8	Noon – 4 p.m. ET
*Approximate start time will be 9 p.m. ET live between games of the State Farm Champions Classic college basketball double-header at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

The selection committee recusal policy remains consistent with the first 10 years of the CFP, stating that:

"If a committee member or an immediate family member, e.g., spouse, sibling or child, (a) is compensated by a school, (b) provides professional services for a school, or (c) is on the coaching staff or administrative staff at a school or is a football student-athlete at a school, that member will be recused. Such compensation shall include not only direct employment, but also current paid consulting arrangements, deferred compensation (e.g., contract payments continuing after employment has ended, or other benefits. The committee will have the option to add other recusals if special circumstances arise.

"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 ranking. Recused members shall not participate in discussions regarding the placement of the recused team into a bowl game."

Recusals for the 2024 college football season are as follows:

SCHOOL	SELECTION COMMITTEE MEMBER
Arkansas	Hunter Yurachek
Baylor	Mack Rhoades
Marshall	Jim Grobe
Miami (OH)	David Sayler
Michigan	Warde Manuel
Missouri	Gary Pinkel
Navy	Chet Gladchuk
Nevada	Chris Ault
Oregon State	Mike Riley
Rutgers	Kelly Whiteside
SMU	Hunter Yurachek
South Carolina	Hunter Yurachek
Texas A&M	Chet Gladchuk
UCLA	Chris Ault
Virginia	Carla Williams

The CFP selection committee is responsible for ranking the top 25 teams for inclusion in the playoff and then assigning the teams to the playoff bracket and their game sites. The committee meets in person beginning late in the football season and produces a ranking of the top 25 teams each week leading up to its final selections.

The selection committee members are Chris Ault (former head coach and athletics director, University of Nevada), Chet Gladchuk (athletics director, U.S. Naval Academy), Jim Grobe (former head coach, Ohio University, Wake Forest and Baylor), Warde Manuel (chair) (athletics director, University of Michigan), Randall McDaniel (College and Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former All-American offensive lineman, Arizona State University); Gary Pinkel (former head coach, University of Toledo and University of Missouri); Mack Rhoades (athletics director, Baylor University); Mike Riley (former college head coach, Oregon State and Nebraska, as well as head coach in the NFL, CFL, WLAF, AAF and USFL), David Sayler (athletics director, Miami University, OH), Will Shields (College and Pro Football Hall of Fame member and former All-American offensive lineman, University of Nebraska), Kelly Whiteside (professor in Sports Media and Journalism, Montclair State University; longtime sportswriter, USA Today, Sports Illustrated and Newsday), Carla Williams (athletics director, University of Virginia) and Hunter Yurachek (athletics director, University of Arkansas).

For additional information on the selection committee and its weekly rankings, and to view the selection committee protocol in its entirety, please visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com.

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About the College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is the event that crowns the national champion in college football. The CFP Selection Committee ranks the top 25 teams at the end of the season, and the 12 playoff participants consist of the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The schools seeded five through eight will host those seeded nine through 12 in first-round games. The quarterfinals and semifinals rotate annually among six bowl games – the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and the Allstate Sugar Bowl. This year's quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 31, 2024, and January 1, 2025, while the semifinals will be January 9-10, 2025. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 20, 2025, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. For additional information on the College Football Playoff, visit CollegeFootballPlayoff.com.

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