Archie Manning has just pulled out of the College Football Playoff selection committee, according to sources cited by ESPN’s Chris Mortensen (see ESPN’s story here.) Archie has to undergo knee surgery and wants time to concentrate on his health.
First and foremost, no one should criticize Archie for this. Yes, we love college football. And yes, he had a huge responsibility that any fan would give up a heck of a lot for. But at the end of the day, it’s still just football and his health comes first. I am sure he did not want to have to make this decision. But we should respect it and hope he is able to come back in good health in his own time.
For the important part to us fans, though, how will this affect the overall makeup of the CFP? What will the CFP do about losing a member of their committee?
ESPN reported a while back that if a committee member has to quit then the committee will just go on with 12 members instead of 13. There is nothing binding about that, though, and if the committee finds a good replacement I am sure they will not hesitate to add another person. After all, PR is going to be just as important to the committee as the teams they actually select will. There will definitely be a good chunk of teams with a legitimate gripe (think a 2-loss Pac-12 or Big XII champion) if they get left out. The more respected names the committee can find, the quieter the outpour of rage by not-selected teams’ fans will be.
So how would having only 12 members affect the committee? At the top, not much. The only rule the committee has that is affected by the number of ballots is that a team needs to be on three of the original Top 25 ballots to be considered for the final Top 25 (there is a weird multiple ballot process in place, explained here). Any team in consideration for the Top 4 will be on every ballot anyway, so the difference between 12 and 13 will be nonexistent. This could affect the top mid-majors, though, as the teams fighting for the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion will probably be towards the bottom of most Top 25 lists.
What does matter, though, is that Archie Manning is the one who is stepping down. The CFP committee has a policy that anyone on a payroll of a school cannot vote for that school in any of the first few ballots. Archie Manning happens to currently be an employee of the nation’s #3 team (Ole Miss) and would have been recused from voting for them.
This is probably to Ole Miss’ benefit, then. If they lose again but are still in consideration for the Top 6 at the end of the year, having a member of the committee not allowed to vote for them in the second voting stage (when the first Top 6 are determined) could hurt Ole Miss and bump them down into the second grouping of six teams. Not having Manning in there could actually help the Rebels.
The irony of all of this is that if Ole Miss ends the year in the Top 6, Archie would not have been able to vote at all in the final ballot for who makes the Top 4. Any recused committee member does not get a say at all in the last voting stage when their team is under consideration. So, at the end of they day, Manning’s decision to leave the committee may have had no impact whatsoever on the committee’s final–and most important–decision.
Nebraska, USC, and West Virginia are the other schools with even a semblance of a chance of making the Top 4 that could have recused committee members.
And, most importantly, get well soon Archie.
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