The Buffs will have a hand in picking the College Football Playoff teams
Jan 22, 2020, 10:37 AM | Updated: 10:39 am
When it come to determining which teams will be a part of the College Football Playoff, the University of Colorado will now have a say in who is on the field. It won’t have anything to do with Mel Tucker’s team ascending the rankings and being in the mix. Instead, it’ll be based on the Buffaloes have a representative in the board room when it comes time to vote.
On Wednesday, it was announced that University of Colorado athletic director Rick George has been named to the College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee. He will serve a three-year term, beginning with their first meetings later this spring.
“I am humbled and honored to join the College Football Playoff Selection Committee,” George said. “The game of football has provided me with endless opportunities throughout my lifetime. This opportunity gives me the chance to give back to this great game.”
George will be one of three new representatives on the 13-member selection committee, which is charged with creating six weekly top 25 rankings beginning the first week of November, and culminating in the selection of the four teams that will compete in the CFP playoffs and the additional eight schools that will earn bids into the other four “New Year’s Six” bowls (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange and Peach). CU’s athletic director, Tom Burman (Wyoming athletic director) and John Urschel (former Penn State linebacker) are replacing Rob Mullens (Oregon athletic director), Chris Howard (Robert Morris University president) and Frank Beamer (former Virginia Tech head coach) on the selection committee. Mullens had served as the chair of the committee for the last two years, a role that will now be assumed by Gary Barta (Iowa athletic director).
George is completing his sixth year as CU’s athletic director and has already had several other high profile appointments, most recently to the NCAA’s 18-member working group studying student-athlete name, image and likeness (NIL) issues (with recommendations due in January 2021). He also serves on the Division I Council of the NCAA, is part of the NCAA’s D1 Council Transfer Working Group and recently completed a two-year term as chair of the LEAD1 Association, which represents the athletic directors, programs and student-athletes of the 130 member schools of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
The 2020 CFP semifinals will be next Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, with the seventh-annual CFP championship game set for Jan. 11, 2021 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Whether the Buffs have a great season on the field or not, they’ll now have a hand in determining who will be a part of this marquee matchups.
