Kirk Herbstreit defends College Football Playoff selection committee amid criticism

The CFP Rankings always, for better or for worse, lead to national reaction, especially the initial one, as it’s the first look at what the selection committee sees in trying to seed the field for the College Football Playoff. But, when it comes to the worst side of that topic, Kirk Herbstreit came to the committee’s defense this week following the release of those first ratings.

Reacting immediately with Joey Galloway to the first edition of the season of the CFP Top 25 on Tuesday night, Herbstreit took a moment to defend those on the selection committee. He knows they, regardless of who’s on it in a given year, are in a difficult position as there’s never going to be a consensus on how they rank teams, which often leads to plenty of criticism, whether justified or not, toward them.

“Now, (Mack Rhoades) is a football guy. I mean, he’s – it’s interesting. There are, you know – I think all of these people have, you know, different relationships with the sport. You have coaches in there. You have ADs. You know, you have a media member, I believe,” Herbstreit noted. “So, everybody brings a different lens, I guess, into that room, which I have no problem with.”

“I’m not part of the ‘The committee knows nothing about this!’, ‘They don’t know what they’re doing!’. I’ve never really been big on that. I think, if you and I were in there, and we had David Pollack, and you and me, and, you know, whoever breaking it down, people would think we’re full of crap, like we don’t know what we’re doing. So, they are set up to fail, you know. Like, anybody else in that position? It doesn’t even matter who’s in that room. The masses are going to think they suck.”

Herbstreit thinks that it’s especially unnecessary to have to hear about what’s just the initial ranking for the CFP. There are plenty of changes to come to those ratings over the next month, with him feeling that there was nothing so egregious to have to critique from this week’s first edition of the season.

“And, I mean, listen to us. We’re sitting here going through this thing like, ‘Wow, well, what about Oregon at nine?’ You know, they’re doing the best they can, right? And, they have their own reasons for why they put these teams here,” Herbstreit continued. “There’s not one team ranked in any spot – and, again, it’s only week one – that makes me jump up and down on this table like, ‘What are they doing?! I can’t believe it!’. I don’t see that.”

No matter who’s on the selection committee for each postseason, there will be no way for them to please everyone in college football. That’s the position that this year’s dozen people have to deal with, which is a place that isn’t envied by Herbstreit.

College Football Playoff Top 25: First official 2025 CFP Rankings revealed

As the college football season moves into its final month, teams across the country have built their resumes and learned how early results hold up or fall apart given subsequent performances. For those with outstanding records and big wins, that means a place inside the College Football Playoff Top-25 and a path toward the twelve-team bracket at the conclusion of the regular season.

Through ten weeks of data, here is how the selection committee ranked the Top-25with a chance to earn their spot in the College Football Playoff:

1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Ole Miss
7. BYU
8. Texas Tech
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas
12. Oklahoma
13. Utah
14. Virginia
15. Louisville
16. Vanderbilt
17. Georgia Tech
18. Miami
19. USC
20. Iowa
21. Michigan
22. Missouri
23. Washington
24. Pittsburgh
25. Tennessee