Greg Sankey explains why he's in favor of keeping College Football Playoff selection committee over computers

Greg Sankey is in favor of a College Football Playoff selection committee over utilizing computers to figure out who the top teams in the sport are. Some may find that controversial, some will wholeheartedly agree, but that’s where the SEC Commissioner stands.

He stated his case Friday during an appearance on Golic and Golic. Evidently, Sankey expects the committee to rely on key data points, but the human eye is also invaluable when separating the best of the best in college football.

“My thought is there’s, like, always a pendulum swing. So you heard plenty last year and maybe the year before, about how we shouldn’t have a committee,” Sankey stated. “But if you return to, you know, 2008, ‘9, ’10, ’11, particularly, I think it was ’11 when LSU and Alabama played, there was plenty of opinion and commentary on, ‘We shouldn’t just have a computer decide this,’ because that was the non human factor. I think there’s a balance in this age of analytics. There’s a way for the data to be improved, in my opinion. I think there is a human factor involved.

“Now, one of the things to remember is, in a four-team playoff, the pressure was either in the four or out, right? And if you’re five and six, plenty of fewer — a lot of years, it was fairly clear, not all the time. Now, in a 12-team playoff, you have the first group of four who receive a bye. So, that’s a pressure point in decision making. You have the second group of four who receive home games. That’s a pressure point. You have the third group who’s in, and then you have the fourth group of four — 13-16 — who are out.

“The selection process really was put in place for that first four segment, the top four teams, when you’re dealing with often undefeated teams, maybe 11-1 regular season teams for the championship game, maybe 10-2, here and there. So it’s really narrow bend.”

Evidently, Sankey believes there needs to be a balance between computer-generated rankings and a human selection committee. Still, he recognizes that eliminating the human component could be extremely detrimental to the Playoff, and that’s not something he would advocate for.

“I think one of the justifications for an updated process is there are more pressure points that have to be contemplated and your evaluation of 12-0 and 11-1 has impact,” Sankey explained. “But wow, when you go to 10-2 and 9-3 evaluations, that has more meaning, and how we look at the nature of those schedules, results from those schedules, you know, losses have meaning, but should they have more meaning than maybe some quality wins? Those are really important aspects from our perspective with this discussion, where I think there is a balance between the computer and the human.”

It seems as if Greg Sankey is speaking for a ton of people with his opinion, and many will agree with his sentiment. The College Football Playoff selection committee is far from perfect, but it may be the best we can do when you consider the volatile nature of the sport in 2025.