How the College Football Playoff committee actually ranks teams

Paul Myerberg | USA TODAY Sports

GRAPEVINE, Texas — The College Football Playoff selection committee's weekly deliberations begin with a homework assignment: Using the various tools, metrics and eye tests as their disposal, committee members are asked to arrive with an unordered list of 30 teams worthy of being included in the postseason debate.

Unordered, mind you, and 30 teams, not 25. This should disprove the common misconception that the committee's weekly poll uses as its baseline personalized top-25 lists compiled by the committee's 13 members.

"It's not that at all," said Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long, the chairman of the selection committee. "It's a process that compares teams in small groups."

Down the hall from various hotel rooms — a luxury that allows the committee to sleep on their task, let alone debate in pajamas — members will meet each week beginning in late October to decide the makeup of the four-team postseason format.

"It's a very difficult process to try to describe to someone," Long said.

The process is done in either three-team or four-team chunks, piece by piece, from top to bottom, and constantly debated, voted and re-voted before settling on a final top 25. Here's how the selection committee picks the field:

1. The first 30

Each committee member brings to the table a list of the 30 teams "he or she believes to the best in the country," compiled in no particular order. Teams that are listed on three or more ballots will then be under consideration, though teams not initially listed may be later added if three or more members agree.

2. The "first listing step"

Each member's first order of business: Listing his or her top six teams, again in no particular order. The six teams receiving the most votes will be included in the first voting.

3. The "first ranking step"

Once those six teams have been selected, committee members place them in order, from No. 1 through No. 6. A first-place vote receives one point, a second-place vote two points, and so on through sixth place. The first ranking seeds the top three teams, with the team with the lowest point total ranked No. 1. The three unseeded teams will be held over for the next ranking step.

4. The second round

Those three holdovers are joined by another three teams selected using the same process: Each member picks six teams in no particular order, with the three highest vote-getters advancing to the ranking step. By the end of this step, the committee will have selected its four Playoff participants — with No. 1 facing No. 4 and No. 2 versus No. 3 in the two national semifinals — and the first two teams, No. 5 and No. 6, just outside the Playoff picture.

5. Round three

The committee repeats this step, with each choosing six teams and the top three teams joining the holdovers from the previous round of voting. This completes the No. 1 seed through No. 9.

6. Rounds four through seven

The process changes with the fourth round. Instead of choosing six teams, each member picks eight teams; instead of the top three vote-getters, rounds four through seven add four teams into the mix. By the end of round seven, the committee will have settled on its top 25.

Each round includes individual recusals. Members are recused from discussing universities based on a handful of criteria: If a member or family member is compensated by the school, provides professional services to the school or is on the school's coaching or administrative staff. Long is not allowed to participate in any discussion of Arkansas, for example.

In addition, the committee may choose to re-vote a certain section of the poll at any time, under two specific criteria: one, the re-vote must include at least three teams — from No. 1 through No. 3, for example — and two, a re-vote must be agreed upon by at least three committee members.

For example, a mock selection committee meeting Oct. 8 that was attended by USA TODAY Sports and was based on the 2011 season quickly seeded LSU No. 1 and Oklahoma State No. 2. However, a re-vote was done to re-seed the field from No. 3 through No. 7, eventually switching the fourth and final Playoff spot from Oregon to Wisconsin.