Mark Blaudschun
By Mark Blaudschun
We are only a few weeks away from Selection Sunday in college football with the usual prospects and suspects making last minute pushes for style points to impress the CFP Selection Committee.
This year we have the usual SEC vs. the world debate about how many SEC teams deserve to be part of the 12 team-field. In one scenario the SEC has seven teams.
And there is the growing debate over Miami vs. Notre Dame, which should not be that much of a debate since the two teams will presumably each finish with 10-2 records, but settled the question on the field with a 27-24 Miami victory.
But that was in August.
Miami has lost two games it should have won--Louisville and SMU--since then, while Notre Dame hasn't lost a game since it got beat by a point by still unbeaten Texas A&M in September.
The debate among committee members is which team is better RIGHT NOW.
Normally, that would be standard stuff for what is designed as a 13-member committee of former coaches and players, current administrators and one former journalist.
This has been an unusual year on the committee which has lost three members for various reasons, and is going for the remainder of the process with 12 reps and last week endured another jolt when CFP committee chairman Mack Rhoades, the athletic director at Baylor, resigned for what remains basically unreported reasons.
The CFP had to scramble for a replacement, elevating Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek to the role of chairman and filling the open spot with Utah athletic director Mark Harlan.
That process was more complicated than it appeared because other factors are involved, such as Arkansas searching for a new football coach to replace Sam Pitman, who was fired earlier this season.
That move was made by Yurachek, who has enough on-going responsibilities as an athletic director without adding a coaching search and NOW chairmanship of the CFP Selection Committee.
The point here is that we are now in the nitty gritty of the CFP's process and the selection committee is understaffed ,overworked and may be overmatched in what looks like a potential crisis brewing just off shore.
Here's the problem which appeared on Tuesday after the latest rankings.
The committee has emphasized strength of schedule, which has been a controversial topic for the CFP's entire history, is again a key evaluation subject.
When you are dealing with deciding between teams who have not played each other but have the same record it should always be a factor.
But it has always been used subjectively and is being done this season, especially regarding three of CFB's blue bloods: MIami, Notre Dame and Alabama.
Each of those teams has two losses, but one of Notre Dame's two losses was to Miami. Miami's two losses were to Louisville and SMU, while Notre Dame's only other loss was by a point to unbeaten Texas A&M.
Yet Notre Dame, which really doesn't have a quality win besides USC, has been ranked solidly ahead of Miami all season and is also ahead of Alabama, which has beaten Georgia and plays in the highly regarded SEC.
The argument the CFP committee uses is that Notre Dame wins the "eye'' test. The Irish have been playing better every week and have not lost since September, while Alabama stumbled against FSU and Oklahoma and Miami has lost to two teams in the ACC.
That's a nice argument and has some validity for the purists, but here's the problem. Since its loss to SMU last month, Miami has been playing every bit as good as Notre Dame. Alabama has the same record and is behind both of them in the latest rankings
Right now, the Hurricanes are not even in the 12-team playoff field.
"I don't think Miami has ever had a problem passing the "eye'' test,'' said Yurachek, who said the Hurricanes were inconsistent, but now playing well again.
Which means? Well, we will see.
On Saturday, Miami closes its regular season against a surging Pitt team which needs a victory to make it to the ACC title game.
The game is at Pittsburgh where two weeks ago Notre Dame rolled over the Panthers in a game Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said meant nothing to him or his team since it was a non-conference contest.
And Pitt played that way in a 37-15 loss which was decided by halftime.
Pitt cares about the Miami game and so does Miami. So what happens if Miami beats Pittsburgh say 45-10 on the road?
And Notre Dame, which rolled up 70 points against a hapless Syracuse team last week does the same thing against an equally inept Stanford team this week?
Does head-to-head become the tie-breaker? Does Miami nudge out Notre Dame?
Do both of them make it the expense of say Alabama?
Interesting stuff in the best of times, even more so when the selection committee is understaffed and may be overmatched.
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