College Football Playoff director: Committee will not 'manipulate' CFP bracket to avoid rematches

College Football Playoff director Rich Clark said the committee would not “manipulate” the bracket to avoid rematches in the 12-team playoff.

That question was raised during Wednesday’s CFP webinar for members of the media nationwide. In the example given, using last year’s rankings and this year’s conference affiliation, some were concerned over a potential Ohio State–Michigan rematch in the semifinals despite already playing.

Clark dismissed any notion that the CFP committee would change rankings or metrics to avoid rematches. Basically, they’re inevitable.

“So what I’ll say is, we’re not going to sort of manipulate how the bracket gets laid out or the seeding,” Clark said Wednesday. “We’re not going to manipulate that to avoid rematches. If they happen naturally, they just happen. I imagine we’re going to see some of that in this playoff. You could see teams play each other three times.

“They might play each other in the regular season, they might play each other in the conference championship, and then they see each other somewhere in the playoff. So it could happen, but we’re not going to change the seeding to avoid those rematches.”

As he laid out, and this could very well happen this year, teams could play each other three times. Look at the Big Ten for example. Oregon just beat Ohio State and the two could play again in the Big Ten Championship.

What if Ohio State wins this time? The two teams are likely both going to make the College Football Playoff. Wouldn’t there be a chance of a third matchup? It’ll just depend on the rankings.

“We’re going to seed them how they’re ranked, and then we’re going to bracket them how they’re seeded,” Clark said. “So that is going to happen, and it’s not that part of it, I wouldn’t say is art or science. That’s the rule set that the commissioners have laid out. So once the rankings happen, a lot of the decision making is taken out of the hands of the committee, and it then just goes by the protocol that the committee met, that the commissioners have established for the committee members. So we’re not going to change the seeding to avoid rematches.”

Even if the College Football Playoff doesn’t have that exact scenario, some teams might be really close in ranking and it’ll be quite the debate where to see them, especially for at-large teams. But Clark doubled down and said they wouldn’t flip teams No. 5 and 6, for example, to avoid a potential rematch.

“There’s going to be some very close rankings between two teams,” Clark said. “But in the end, if it’s even if it’s a hair difference, and one team is five and it’s a hair between number six, that’s how the ranking falls out, and they’re going to be seated accordingly. So they won’t, they won’t change it to manage matchups or rematches.”