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Playoff committee knows the pressures of its task

 
Published Oct. 17, 2013

The most scrutinized committee in sports has been set. The members say they'll need thick skin, plenty of time and the ability to leave their loyalties behind to pick the four teams that will play for college football's national title next year.

They say they are ready for the pressure.

"I think I've experienced plenty of heat in my life," former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

Rice, former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne and College Football Hall of Fame quarterback Archie Manning are among the 13 people who will be part of the College Football Playoff selection committee in 2014. The committee was officially unveiled Wednesday.

The College Football Playoff will replace the Bowl Championship Series. The selection committee will work similarly to the one that picks the teams for the NCAA basketball tournament.

Rice, the only woman selected, was a surprising pick to be part of the committee because she has never worked directly in college athletics, though when she was provost at Stanford the athletic department was under her supervision and she hired Tyrone Willingham as football coach.

"I've been in enough positions to respect people who have different views," Rice said. "I will work very hard reviewing film to make good judgments."

"Our work will be difficult, but rewarding at the same time," Arkansas athletic director and committee chairman Jeff Long said. "We have important judgments to make during that process. We realize we represent all of college football."

The rest of the members are: Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin athletic director; Lt. Gen. Mike Gould, former superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy; Pat Haden, Southern Cal AD; Tom Jernstedt, former NCAA executive vice president; Oliver Luck, West Virginia AD; Dan Radakovich, Clemson AD; Steve Wieberg, former reporter, USA Today; Willingham, former coach of Notre Dame, Stanford and Washington; and Mike Tranghese, former Big East commissioner.

Hancock said term limits for committee members will eventually be three years, but that will not be the case for all the current members because they do not want to replace the entire committee at once.

Basketball media days: Louisville, which will jump to the ACC after this season, received 9 of 10 first-place votes from coaches as the American Athletic Conference's preseason favorite. UConn got the other first-place vote at the meetings in Memphis, and USF and UCF were picked to finish eighth and ninth, respectively. … In Birmingham, Ala., Kentucky received 21 of 27 first-place votes from a media panel as the SEC preseason favorite while Florida (five) was picked as the runnerup. … In Charlotte, N.C., Duke earned 50 of 54 first-place votes from media members as the favorite to win the expanded ACC. FSU was picked ninth and Miami 12th.