College Football Playoffs: Bob Stoops Talks Selection Committee

Dec 1, 2012; Ft. Worth, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops prior to the game against the Texas Christian Horned Frogs at Amon G Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Bob Stoops has been on the Oklahoma Sooners caravan tour and has been answering a lot of questions about just about everything under the sun. After giving his opinions on the SEC, his players left un-drafted, and more, he touched upon the subject of the upcoming College Football Playoffs.

The questions flowed to the fact that, even with the playoffs in place, there is still controversy that can’t be avoided. Mainly, the question is who will choose the teams that make the playoffs?

First of all, Bob Stoops said that he does not think athletic directors or coaches should have a say in who makes it to the College Football Playoffs because they have agendas to either protect their school or conference for financial purposes. When asked if the media should have a vote, his response was a straight “hell no.”

“Regardless of what you want to say about your journalistic integrity, you have agendas,” Stoops said. “You in your local area, you have a team that’s undefeated and you vote a one-loss team ahead of them and you’re going to pay the price for it and you’re gonna think about it. Who doesn’t have an agenda? You tell me.”

Stoops had a great point about the College Football Playoffs selection committee. Who doesn’t have an agenda? Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott mentioned how the committee will not include reps for every conference, and ideas like former coaches and administrators have been mentioned. However, while you want to think that Barry Switzer would be un-biased, would he really vote for Alabama over OU if both teams have similar records?

“We don’t want people on the committee representing a particular constituency,” Scott said. “Then people are in there with a narrow interest. We want people in there who can take a broad view and do what’s right.”

The problem is, how do you find people without an agenda? How do you find people to vote from the world of college football without a horse in the race.

One thing that Stoops brought up that might put fear into the anti-BCS crowd is using computers. BCS-haters will always decry computers who base their choices on strength of schedule and other matters of judging a team’s strength, because those people feel the human element is important due to the intangibles. The problem is that the human element is full of bias. Plus, Stoops likes taking the strength of schedule into consideration for the College Football Playoffs.

“Otherwise, why are we going to Notre Dame this year?” Stoops said. “Why travel to Florida State two years ago? If you’re not going to be reward for it, then play a bunch of softies and try and be undefeated.”

Stoops pointed out how Northern Illinois, with one loss, went to the BCS bowls over the Sooners, who had two losses – both to BCS teams, Notre Dame and  Kansas State? Would Northern Illinois have ended with one loss with OU’s schedule. Honestly, they would have been lucky to finish the season with a .500 record.

The College Football Playoffs is a start, but how they choose the selection committee will go a long way to determine its success.