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Heather Dinich, ESPN Senior Writer
HOUSTON, Texas — SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told ESPN he was “disappointed in the acrimony” that ensued following the College Football Playoff selection committee’s controversial final ranking last month, which for the first time excluded an undefeated Power 5 champion in Florida State.
The CFP selection committee ultimately chose No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Washington, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama at the expense of the undefeated ACC champion and No. 5 FSU. Both Texas and Alabama each had one loss and ended the season with a loss in their respective CFP semifinal games.
Committee members have since received significant backlash, including threats, since the group’s most debatable decision in a decade of the CFP and conspiracy theories have run rampant on social media platforms.
“I didn’t need so many incoming emails I received,” Sankey said. “I can only imagine hearing from those on the selection committee who are volunteers what they received. I think some of the statements made in the immediacy of selection were disappointing to me as a colleague, and I would maintain that the strength of our league — sure we lost some games — but as I look at what were the four best teams, I would maintain that we had two of those four.
“But again, the selection committee makes that decision, and we respect the decision.”
Immediately following the reveal, Florida State athletic director Michael Alford released a scathing statement in which he called the committee’s decision “unforgivable.” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips called it “unfathomable,” and said the decision “calls into question the selection process and whether the Committee’s own guidelines were followed.”
On Sunday, Phillips told ESPN he will continue to defend the conference.
“As the ACC Commissioner, I am absolutely going to support our student-athletes, member schools and our conference at every moment. Period. That was precisely what occurred. This was an historic decision. For the very first time an undefeated, Power Five conference champion was excluded. To be certain, I look very much look forward to working with my colleagues to continue to refine the CFP and shape the future of college football.”
Sankey contributed to the controversy on championship weekend when he appeared on ESPN’s College GameDay show and lobbied for his league’s continued representation in the CFP. In reference to other teams competing with Georgia and Alabama for top-four spots, Sankey said, “Let’s go back to like Sesame Street … one of these things is not like the other, and that’s the Southeastern Conference.”
On Saturday, Sankey said he respected the committee’s decision to exclude two-time defending national champion Georgia, which sank from No. 1 to No. 6 after losing to Alabama, 27-24, in the SEC title game.
“The morning of selection we had prepared a statement that said we have a different view, but we’re not going to point fingers and cast blame,” he said. “We’re going to focus on how do we improve and prepare for the 12-team playoff? That’s it. … I think three or four times we’ve had the fifth-ranked team. Do I think every decision has been perfect? No, but that the authority we allocated.”
Sankey said he will attend Monday night’s national championship game between No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington even though this is the first time since 2014 — the inaugural season of the four-team playoff — that his conference doesn’t have a team playing.
Sankey and Phillips, along with the other FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, will have their annual meeting on Monday morning prior to the title game, but no changes to the selection committee’s protocol are expected to be made at this time. The new 12-team format will begin this fall, which will prevent an undefeated Power 5 conference champion from being excluded.
On Monday, the 11 presidents and chancellors who have the ultimate authority over the playoff could approve the commissioners’ proposal to reward the five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams with spots in the 12-team field.
Still, Sankey wondered if it will become more challenging for the CFP to recruit people to serve on the 13-member committee tasked with choosing the best teams in the country.
“Are people going to want to serve in that capacity given the level of vitriol directed?” he said. “They’re volunteers. They fulfilled their charge. There’s always disagreement, but it shouldn’t sink to the level it has.”
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said he doesn’t think the aftermath of this Selection Day will prevent others from serving on the committee.
“At the end of the day people really respect the process and realize how important it is,” he said. “Whether you’re an athletic director or someone who’s played and has been asked to join or may not be a current administrator, I think there’s so much love for the game and how important the job is people will always stand up to do it. It’s our job to make sure those people feel safe and comfortable.”
Petitti said his focus was “respecting how difficult that job is,” and that this year’s controversy further reiterated that four “isn’t the right number” of teams in the field.
“I say that because I look at Ohio State’s season,” he said. “It’s not just Florida State. We had some pretty good teams that could get on a roll and win a national championship that weren’t included.”
Mountain West Conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez said this year’s controversy prompted her to rethink the “small data set” of a football season, and wondered if there were a better way to determine strength of schedule.
“Right now strength of schedule spits out a number, but you can’t lean on it like you do in basketball because there’s so much less data going into that number,” Nevarez said. “That’s from my mind the core of the issue for the debate that happened this year both with Liberty and Florida State. If we could figure out a way to get a metric that we feel better about – no one is going to agree with it, someone is always going to be upset – but to me that was the weakness in this year’s argument, the ability to feel good about strength of schedule.”
Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said this season demonstrated that there are enough teams to legitimately fill a 12-team bracket.
“This proves the point,” he said. “If you didn’t have people upset that they weren’t in the event, I’d question the intensity and interest in the event. When we have 12 teams, we’re going to have people who aren’t happy they’re not in the event. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the decision, I have no doubt in the integrity of the people making those decisions.”