Eli Drinkwitz blasts College Football Playoff committee methods: 'I don't know what changed'

If the College Football Playoff has made material changes to how it evaluates teams in Year 2 of the 12-team system, Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz can’t find them. He opened up on that Wednesday on an SEC teleconference call.

A reporter posed Drinkwitz a relatively innocuous question. Does he see evidence the committee’s new strength of record metric made a difference in the initial rankings released Tuesday night?

“The top two teams’ schedule rankings and strength of schedule is in the mid-30s,” Drinkwitz said, referring to Ohio State and Indiana. “(Texas) A&M is in the top five. They were ranked (No.) 3. So I don’t know what’s changed.”

Eli Drinkwitz wasn’t done shredding the College Football Playoff there. His Missouri team, for what it’s worth, checked in ranked No. 22 with a 6-2 record.

The Tigers will have an uphill climb if they hope to make the final field, needing to jump at least 10 spots in the final four weeks of the season. It’s a big ask.

On a somewhat unrelated question, Eli Drinkwitz was asked if he thought the committee is putting a greater emphasis on the “eye test” with a handful of coaches on the selection committee. Once again, Drinkwitz was not convinced.

“No, I don’t. I don’t think that matters,” he said. “Every coach has a different taste in what they’re looking for on film. Some guys are defensive coaches, they’re going to evaluate defensive strengths. Some guys are offensive coaches, they’re going to evaluate offensive strengths. Some people don’t like other people. Some people rank their conference better than others. Some people think that because they played in this conference it’s going to be different.”

Seemingly a bit heated, Eli Drinkwitz came home to his larger point in the discussion. He wants to see a committee-less system.

“The reality is college football needs to be decided on the field,” Drinkwitz said. “There needs to be play-in games. There’s not another sport in the country that is decided, besides NCAA basketball, NCAA baseball and NCAA football, by committees. Like, decide it on the field. Just like pro sports do.”