They’ve pulled back the curtain at the College Football Playoff, allowing the unwashed media to enter the inner sanctum and see exactly how this contraption works.
It will either be fabulously successful. Or an utter disaster.
No matter how you analyze it, there is no right or wrong with the new CFP — only opinions. That’s where a media group of 16 comes into play.
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Beginning Thursday, the group will mock a playoff from the 2008 season. Because the current season is barely a month old, it doesn’t follow CFP protocol — the first poll is near the end of October — to use this year’s race.
The 2008 season, however, should provide plenty of entertaining discussion — all of it on the record. Whatever happens within the committee room is free to be reported.
That includes discussion points for the Big 12 three-way tiebreaker between Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech — the big controversy in the 2008 season — and what to do with two unbeaten non-BCS teams (Utah, Boise State).
Each media member will represent one of the current members on the committee (because there are 16 with the media mock, three will double up). And just like with the real committee, if there is any conflict of interest with a specific committee member, the corresponding media member will be recused while the team is discussed.
Just like the real committee, the media mock will pick the four teams to play in the 2008 playoff, and seed the remaining teams in the New Years bowls. More than anything, the mock will shed light on the complexities of the process but won’t clear up the one, distinct dynamic: the eye test.
What looks good for one committee member, may not look good for another.
Again, there is no right or wrong. If the absence of controversy is what’s right, then the committee — the mock and current — will never get it right.
There will be more opinion and talking points with this system than any time in the long, storied history of the game. It’s a new era, all right.
With the same old controversy.
The media mock committee
Tony Barnhart, SEC Network
Kirk Bohls, Austin American-Statesman
Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Chuck Carlton, Dallas Morning-News
Heather Dinich, ESPN.com
Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times
Pete Fiutak, Campus Insiders
Pat Forde, Yahoo! Sports
Stephen Hawkins, Associated Press
Matt Hayes, Sporting News
Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City-Star
Stewart Mandel, Fox Sports
Jerry Palm, CBSSports.com
Ralph Russo, Associated Press
George Schroeder, USA Today
Andy Staples, SI.com