 Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long is no longer the chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee.

That doesn’t mean he won’t face difficult choices in his final two seasons as a member of the committee.

With No. 3 Louisville (3-0) moving up the rankings after its 63-20 win over Florida State last week, that makes it possible Long could possibly sit in on committee discussions about including the Cardinals — led by former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino — in the playoff.

They are discussions Long said on Wednesday before a meeting of the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club that he won’t recuse himself from, despite the fact he famously fired Petrino in 2012 after the coach wrecked his motorcycle.

That led to revelations of a mistress, a $20,000 gift to her and that Petrino had hired her to a position in the athletic department — all points the coach initially lied about to Long.

“No, there’s no reason for me to recuse myself,” Long said. “I think Louisville is a fine football program, and they [have] demonstrated that after three weeks of the season. We’ve got six more weeks before we rank a group of teams.”

Members of the committee recuse themselves from the selection process when their own schools are involved or conflicts of interest arise.

When asked if he was concerned about the perception of a lack of objectivity concerning Petrino, Long simply said, “No.”

Petrino was 34-17 in four seasons at Arkansas, leading the school to the Sugar Bowl following the 2010 season and a No. 5 final ranking the following season.