College Football Playoff Executive Director defends Warde Manuel after controversial comments on ESPN

Following the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings reveal, selection committee chairman Warde Manuel surprised many when he said teams wouldn’t shift if they weren’t playing in conference championships. But CFP executive director Rich Clark defended those comments and said that’s how the committee looked at the rankings.

Clark addressed Manuel’s comments during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show Friday afternoon. He noted the remarks were different from those of years past during the chairman’s interviews on ESPN, but said it supported what happened in the room.

Clark also said Manuel clarified things well when host Rece Davis followed up. Although some people were caught off guard by the comments, Clark praised the way the chairman handled it.

“I don’t think that he went ‘off the reservation.’ … Maybe no other chairman has ever brought that up, but it is a part of, I would say, the way the committee has operated over the years,” Clark said. “I think initially, maybe it caught folks off guard and maybe there was a little bit of confusion, but I thought he clarified it. But the fact of the matter is, that is how the committee viewed it, and there was a level of transparency that was there. And my view is, as long as we don’t reveal what individual committee members vote or how they discuss things or talk about things, then it is okay to talk about what happens and why we vote and talk about things the way we do.

“Transparency, to me – I encouraged Warde to be transparent, and he did. I know that probably caught people off guard just a bit, but the fact is that’s how the committee viewed those rankings and those teams that weren’t participating in the conference championships. Really, they didn’t have an opportunity to add to their body of work, those teams that weren’t participating. To me, it made sense, the way the committee went about that.”

Manuel’s point was the College Football Playoff committee didn’t have another data point for teams that weren’t playing during Championship Week. That appeared to indicated little movement following the title games. However, Clemson managed to steal a bid, winning the ACC Championship against SMU. The Mustangs also stayed in the 12-team bracket, meaning Alabama wound up on the outside looking in.