Boo Corrigan explains how College Football Playoff selection committee weighs various factors

The latest edition of the College Football Playoff rankings were unveiled on Tuesday night and one of the chief complaints coming from ESPN’s analysts and college football fans was some seeming inconsistency in the rankings.

Specifically, some analysts argued that some teams were ranked primarily based on their resume, while others were subject more to the eye test.

Speaking to ESPN’s Rece Davis on Tuesday night, College Football Playoff selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan explained that’s partly by design. Both are major factors when it comes to ranking teams.

“Well, I think the key in the question, Rece, is they’re not mutually exclusive. It’s not one or the other,” Corrigan said. “As we look through it, and you can tell by our rankings right now with Ohio State and the big wins they’ve had, including last week over a top-20 defensive team in Rutgers, and Georgia and the way they’ve played their games, big win over Missouri, the other wins that they’ve had this year.

“Michigan a little bit of a different schedule as you look at that, but they continue to dominate, including going up 17-0 last week against Purdue, as well as Florida State getting their wins down their two top receivers. It’s a mixture of the resume and kind of the football judgment as we look at it. And again, Washington‘s in there as well with their big win at USC.”

Davis pressed Corrigan a bit further on the topic, specifically wondering if the committee had entertained the idea that a team could have a thoroughly compelling resume without necessarily passing the eye test.

It’s an argument many have made against Ohio State being No. 1 right now.

“Not so much in what we’re talking about. Again, we’re looking to add onto what is their resume, how do they look, who’s been out, who’s coming back to make sure with strength of schedule, with the statistics, with watching the games, including everyone in the room, to make sure that we’re getting all the varying opinions, just like you are tonight in the studio, right?” Corrigan said. “You want as many opinions as you can to come out with what we believe is the right answer.”

The other factor that Davis attempted to flesh out from the College Football Playoff selection committee was how they deal with games changing in importance as the year progresses.

For example, Florida State’s win over LSU looks a bit less impressive now than it did, say, a month ago. Ditto for Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame.

How does the committee weigh games when they were played versus now?

“Again, I think it’s a combination of both, is what was it in that moment and then again, looking over the body of work,” Corrigan said. “We’re in Week 10 right now and making sure that based on Week 10 we’re making what we believe are the best decisions, but again you’re looking at it week over week and what did they do, and where was the game, and was the game at home, was the game on the road, what was the environment involved in it, and who was playing? Were there injuries at that point, and make sure that we’re making the right judgment.”