IRVING, Texas -- The 13-member College Football Playoff selection committee was officially introduced Wednesday.
Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long is the chair of the committee, which will be responsible for selecting the four teams that advance to the College Football Playoff beginning after the 2014 regular season.
The committee is a star-studded lineup, including former NFL quarterbacks Pat Haden, Archie Manning and Oliver Luck and former coaches Tom Osborne, Barry Alvarez and Tyrone Willingham. However, the biggest name unquestionably is the lone female -- former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"Condi definitely earned her spot on this committee," College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock said. "She knows this game, she is a student of this game."
The remaining members of the group: Mike Gould, Tom Jernstedt, Dan Radakovich, Mike Tranghese and Steve Wieberg.
"Our work will be difficult, but rewarding at the same time," Long said. "We have important judgments to make during that process. We realize we represent all of college football."
The committee will meet four times during the college football season and release rankings every other week starting in mid-October, Hancock said.
Committee members will serve approximately three-year terms, although the initial members will have their terms staggered so they all don't leave at the same time. Committee members will not be paid, Hancock said.
The reason the committee is 13 was because it was "the right number," Hancock said. Everyone contacted to be on the committee enthusiastically wanted to be on the committee, but some individuals couldn't make the necessary time commitments. Hancock would not indicate how many individuals turned down the opportunity.
Hancock said future committees could have more or fewer members.
Besides picking the four teams for the College Football Playoff, the selection committee will be responsible for ranking and placing at-large teams in the noncontract New Year's Day bowls (Cotton, Fiesta and Chick-fil-A).
The committee also must select the highest ranked champion from the non-Power Five leagues (American, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt), which will receive an automatic bid to one of the six bowls associated with the College Football Playoff.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
...she can create/analyze metrics, judge and is very familiar with football. She has worked in the most pressurized place in the world. She would be an unbiased voice and she can represent 2 sets of minorities in an authoritative position in sports. She is more than qualified
