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The structure of the selection committee for the upcoming College Football Playoff is becoming clearer, and Bill Hancock made one thing certain Wednesday: conference commissioners will not be allowed in the group that decides the four teams in the playoff, even if they were the ones who helped design the system.
Hancock said that league heads were out, and that although school athletic directors are tentatively in, that's subject to change.
Conference commissioners are allowed in the selection committee for the men's basketball tournament, but the benefits of a conference getting a team into the four-team College Football Playoff field seemingly outweigh those of getting a sixth or seventh squad into the 68-team basketball field. While each power conference will be guaranteed a team in either the two semifinals or one of the four marquee access bowls affiliated with it, getting a team in the four-squad playoff would bump another team into one of the access bowls, allowing a conference two elite bowl matchups in a year instead of just one.
BCS commissioner-turned-playoff-commissioner Bill Hancock says he expects 100 names to be suggested for the committee, a group that will be whittled down to less than 20 in a process Hancock thinks will happen before this fall. That will allow the members to participate in a trial season before the system kicks into full gear in 2014. Part of the agenda at the SEC coaches' spring meetings is nominating names to eventually suggest to Hancock.
Hancock added that he expects the committee to meet once before the season and four to five times during the season. The final group will try to represent the entire nation geographically.
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