The playoff: The College Football Playoff will include the nation's top four teams, as ranked by the playoff selection committee.
The rankings: The committee's rankings will be released each Tuesday night through Dec. 2, with the final rankings and the playoff bracket to be announced Dec. 7, a Sunday.
The pairings: The playoff semifinals — one matching the No. 1 team vs. the No. 4 team and the other matching No. 2 vs. No. 3 — will be played this season in the Rose and Sugar bowls, both Jan. 1. The semifinal winners will meet in the national championship game Jan. 12 in the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
SELECTION COMMITTEE
These 12 people on the College Football Playoff selection committee will rank the top 25 teams on a weekly basis through the end of the regular season and ultimately will select and seed the four playoff teams:
Jeff Long (chairman), Arkansas athletic director
Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin athletic director
Lt. Gen. Mike Gould, former Air Force Academy superintendent
Pat Haden, USC athletic director
Tom Jernstedt, former NCAA executive vice president
Oliver Luck, West Virginia athletic director
Tom Osborne, former Nebraska football coach and athletic director
Dan Radakovich, Clemson athletic director
Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Tranghese, former Big East commissioner
Steve Wieberg, former USA Today college sports reporter
Tyrone Willingham, former Stanford, Notre Dame and Washington football coach
Note: A 13th member of the committee, former Ole Miss and NFL quarterback Archie Manning, won't participate in ranking teams this season. He has taken a leave of absence from the committee because of upcoming surgery.
VOTING PROCESS
According to the College Football Playoff’s “selection protocol,” this is how the committee goes about the process of ranking teams:
1. Each committee member lists the 25 teams he or she believes to be the best in the country, in no particular order. Teams listed by three or more members remain under consideration.
2. Each member lists the six best teams, in no particular order. The six teams receiving the most votes comprise the pool for the first ranking step.
3. In the first ranking step, each member ranks those six teams, one through six. Points are tallied (one point for being voted No. 1, two points for No. 2, etc.) The three teams receiving the fewest points become the top three ranked teams. The other three teams are held over for the next ranking step.
4. Each member lists the six best remaining teams, in no particular order. The three teams receiving the most votes are added to the three teams held over to comprise the next ranking step.
5. Steps No. 3 and 4 are repeated until 25 teams have been ranked.
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