Brian Kelly wants ‘middle-ground’ in College Football Playoff selection process

In response to the criticism that the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff received for its seeding models, the selection committee has adopted a straight-seeding method to ensure the top four teams receive a first-round bye. LSU head coach Brian Kelly sees the decision as a compromise after the seeding debacle that ensued this past postseason.

“I played for a national championship at Notre Dame when we used the old computer model. It was strictly a computer,” Kelly said. “And now we’re at a point where we have a committee. There is a lot of interpretation, and so I think it’s a middle-ground. … Not all schedules are the same, and look, not all losses are the same, either. They really aren’t. I mean, if you just look at the right hand column, and that’s all you do — shame on you. You need to look at more.

“I would think more data involved in the committee, and then I think we took a step with the straight seeding. I think that that’s going to be beneficial to cutting out a lot of the nuances out of this.”

Kelly’s idea that all schedules are not created equal ties back to the issues the CFP faced during last season’s seeding decisions. In its original format, there was speculation whether or not teams would stop scheduling other Power 4 opponents during the non-conference slate. With eight playoff spots available to teams that don’t win their conference, losing any game prior to the start of conference play was a major setback to any team looking to make the find themselves among the field of 12.

With some power conference schools facing early setbacks, their losses in conference play hurt them down the stretch in the eyes of the committee. In the end, at least one of the highest-ranked conference champions didn’t come from the Power Four ranks.

In the end, some felt as through the criticism was justified after the final rankings were revealed as ninth-ranked Boise State of the Mountain West Conference and 12th-ranked Arizona State (Big 12) earned first-round byes in this format. In the expected straight seeding model, this would not be the case even with a conference championship win. This means that more than one team in each conference could earn a bye in the first round as long as they’re ranked within the top four.

Greater changes could be coming to the CFP in the near future as well. There have been talks regarding a 14 or 16-team expansion in the near future. Two models in particular that have been discussed are the 4-4-2-2-1 and 5+11 models. The first refers to the amount of automatic qualifiers a conference would receive: SEC (4), Big Ten (4), ACC (2), Big 12 (2), G6 (1). Meanwhile, the 5+11 model refers to having the five highest-ranked conference champions, as well as 11 at-large bids.