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Richard Clark from the College Football Playoffs. · The Craig Way Show

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Back to The Craigway Show.
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  Speaker 2: Connect with Craig through the text line by text Team
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  Speaker 2: Texas to eight one five three zero, followed by your message.
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  Speaker 3: We welcome me back to our program here on sports
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  Speaker 3: Radio AM thirteen one hundred the Zone, The Craigway Show.
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  Speaker 3: My name is Craig Way. I do thank you very
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  Speaker 3: much for joining us. Of course, this being your flagship
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  Speaker 3: station for Texas Long Worn Athletics and with me serving
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  Speaker 3: as the play by play voice for the Texas Longrorns,
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  Speaker 3: there's obviously going to be a great deal of interest
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  Speaker 3: for long Warn fans, for myself and for a lot
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  Speaker 3: of our listeners on the possibilities of Texas reaching the
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  Speaker 3: College Football Playoff for a second consecutive season. This time,
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  Speaker 3: I'm the brand new world of the twelve team Playoff,
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  Speaker 3: and I know a lot of folks have a lot
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  Speaker 3: of questions about it. I did as well, and I
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  Speaker 3: had some enlightenment yesterday by being able to link into
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  Speaker 3: a webinar hosted by the new executive director of the
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  Speaker 3: College Football Playoff, and that's Richard Clark, who joins us. Now,
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  Speaker 3: rich I please, I really appreciate you taking a few
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  Speaker 3: minutes to join us.
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  Speaker 2: How are you today, Hey, Craig, I'm doing great and
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  Speaker 2: it's good to talk to you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad you were on our webinar yesterday. That's awesome.
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  Speaker 3: It was It was an education, and I have to
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  Speaker 3: say I had I cracked a smile or two when
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  Speaker 3: far more learned college football journalists like Stuart Mandell and
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  Speaker 3: some of the others seem to be a little bit
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  Speaker 3: in the dark on a couple of things that they
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  Speaker 3: were asking you questions that you did a great job.
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  Speaker 3: You and Brett Daniels, who, by the way, I've known
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  Speaker 3: for over forty years from his time at SMU and
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  Speaker 3: with the Dallas Cowboys, that you were able to clarify
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  Speaker 3: a lot. Have you discovered this season as you've gone
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  Speaker 3: through this process that you've gotten a lot of questions
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  Speaker 3: from people about things that the playoff definitely covers, but
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  Speaker 3: it might not be something necessarily that folks think about
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  Speaker 3: because they're really zeroing in on just the twelve teams
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  Speaker 3: and who gets the buys and so on and so forth.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely think that as we get closer and
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  Speaker 2: as people start to see their teams get more in
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  Speaker 2: line with that hunt that they get more interested and
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  Speaker 2: start asking more questions and warn't understand and so yeah,
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  Speaker 2: but we're here to educate and try to help people
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  Speaker 2: understand it so that when it happens there, they don't
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  Speaker 2: think we're just making it up as we go.
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  Speaker 3: Well, one of the things I found interesting was your background,
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  Speaker 3: and I wanted to give you a chance to tell
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  Speaker 3: folks a little bit about it, because I have seen
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  Speaker 3: in the past how sometimes the best directors of conferences
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  Speaker 3: or pro sports leagues or in this case, the college
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  Speaker 3: football playoffs might be people who wild no sports very
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  Speaker 3: very well and might know that particular industry very very well.
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  Speaker 3: They've had a different vocation in life. And that was
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  Speaker 3: certainly the case for you, wasn't it.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. I was in the Air Force for thirty eight years.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, my last job was superintendent at the Air
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  Speaker 2: Force Academy, and I retired from the Air Force on
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  Speaker 2: June first, and I started at CFP on June fourth.
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  Speaker 2: But it's been a great transition for me.
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  Speaker 1: I loved my Air Force career.
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  Speaker 2: I was a pilot for most of my career, and
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  Speaker 2: then you know, after thirty eight years, I did a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Of different jobs, but honestly in this job.
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  Speaker 2: You know, my last job, I thought about getting ready
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  Speaker 2: for war every day that I woke up. Now I
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  Speaker 2: wake up and I think about college football, and I
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  Speaker 2: love it.
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  Speaker 1: I love everything about this job.
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  Speaker 3: I would say in some collegiate communities, I might look
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  Speaker 3: at it in similar tact in terms of combat, but
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  Speaker 3: I did.
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  Speaker 1: I thought one point.
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  Speaker 3: You made right out of the gate that I think
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  Speaker 3: is very very important is that for people who don't
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  Speaker 3: understand this, that the way the committee is going to
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  Speaker 3: go about starting next Tuesday to rank the teams is
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  Speaker 3: no different than they've done in the past, at least initially, right.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we're not talking about the twelve, we're talking
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  Speaker 3: about twenty five.
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  Speaker 1: The way they're going to operate, Yeah, you're absolutely right.
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  Speaker 2: Their number one job is to rank the twenty five
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  Speaker 2: best teams in college football, and that is their job
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  Speaker 2: for the first five sessions that we have. That's what
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  Speaker 2: they do. It only gets different the last session last
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  Speaker 2: year they chose four teams and seeded four teams into
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  Speaker 2: the playoffs. This year they'll see twelve teams in so
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  Speaker 2: that's where it gets different, But their core job stays
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  Speaker 2: the same.
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  Speaker 1: They're were the twenty five best teams.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and then, of course, one of the biggest wrinkles
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  Speaker 3: I think, and you can feel free to expand on
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  Speaker 3: this is I've mentioned on many occasions on this program
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  Speaker 3: and on the Texas Long Run broadcast that I've never
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  Speaker 3: ever heard as much conversations about the Group of five
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  Speaker 3: schools the G five conferences as I have this year,
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  Speaker 3: that of course being since there's a spot there for
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  Speaker 3: a G five, since it'll be the five highest rated champions.
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  Speaker 3: And I did want to give you a chance to
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  Speaker 3: expand on this because there seems to be a little
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  Speaker 3: bit confusion for folks who don't know about you know,
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  Speaker 3: if a G five team is ranked only twenty first,
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  Speaker 3: they're still getting in the playoff if of the highest
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  Speaker 3: ranked fifth conference champion, correct.
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  Speaker 1: That's correct.
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  Speaker 2: So the way it works is we'll take the five
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  Speaker 2: highest ranked conference champions and they will be automatic qualifiers
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  Speaker 2: into the playoff bracket. Then we'll take the next seven
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  Speaker 2: at large. Now here's the thing about those five champions, though,
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  Speaker 2: the first four we'll get an audio buy and they
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  Speaker 2: will be seated one, two, three, and four. That fifth one,
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  Speaker 2: though regardless of where they if they were seated or
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  Speaker 2: if they were ranked outside of twelve, then they will
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  Speaker 2: be seated at number twelve. If they were ranked inside
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  Speaker 2: of twelve, they'll be seated.
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  Speaker 1: Where they were ranked.
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  Speaker 2: So we will have that fifth champion in regardless of
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  Speaker 2: where they're ranked, they're going to be in the seating
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  Speaker 2: and in the bracket.
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  Speaker 3: Richie brought up something else that I had not heard,
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  Speaker 3: and then I know there were a couple of reporters
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  Speaker 3: who asked you is a follow up on this about
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  Speaker 3: the possibility, or at least the rumination that some schools
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  Speaker 3: might have about whether they would be in position as
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  Speaker 3: a let's say they were seated five, six, seven, or eight,
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  Speaker 3: which would be first round host sites, but that for
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  Speaker 3: whatever reason, be it facility, I think you brought up,
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  Speaker 3: hotel space, whatever, might not be in a position to
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  Speaker 3: host in their actual stadium lot as a higher seated
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  Speaker 3: team could elect to go to an alternate site, maybe
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  Speaker 3: an NFL stadium within a reasonable driving distance something like that.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, you know, we're not we're not in that
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  Speaker 2: situation right now. But let's just say that there was
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  Speaker 2: a team whose stadium was being renovated. This is purely hypothetical,
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  Speaker 2: and they were seated one of five, six, seven, or eight.
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  Speaker 2: Then if they couldn't host a game there was or
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  Speaker 2: they didn't have adequate space, then we would give them
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  Speaker 2: the opportunity to find a suitable stadium, whether it's you know,
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  Speaker 2: maybe it's an NFL stadium nearby, maybe it's another university
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  Speaker 2: stadium nearby, but we want them to be able to
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  Speaker 2: still have that home field advantage, but we would give
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  Speaker 2: them that opportunity to work with us to find a
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  Speaker 2: better and a suitable alternate so it could happen. Right now,
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  Speaker 2: I think we're in a pretty place with the teams
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  Speaker 2: that are still in contention, and you know, we're talking
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  Speaker 2: twenty teams or so maybe twenty five teams that we're
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  Speaker 2: looking at. But right now we're in a good place.
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  Speaker 2: But I'll just say this, it doesn't have to be stadium.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe it's hotel space, maybe it's suitable practice field. Because
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  Speaker 2: they're a Northern tier school, so there could be a
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  Speaker 2: lot of things that would make a team go. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we'd rather do this in a different locale so that
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  Speaker 2: we could appropriately host a championship game.
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  Speaker 1: Good point.
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  Speaker 3: So visiting a Rich Clark, executive director of the College
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  Speaker 3: Football Playoff here on sports Radio AM thirteen under this
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  Speaker 3: own Ridge. There was another I think key point that
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  Speaker 3: you addressed a lot of questions about, and that was
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  Speaker 3: the bull sites. Once the playoff advances to its quarterfinals,
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  Speaker 3: as we just discussed, the higher seeded five, six, seven,
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  Speaker 3: and eight teams would host the twelve, eleven, ten, and
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  Speaker 3: nine teams respectively in the first round. Then it would
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  Speaker 3: advance to the quarterfinals where the Bulls come in.
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  Speaker 1: In those quarterfinals.
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  Speaker 3: Side are in Atlanta for the Peach Bowl, in Arizona,
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  Speaker 3: for the Fiesta Bowl, in New Orleans, for the Sugar Bowl,
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  Speaker 3: in Pasadena, for the Rose Bowl. And there was a
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  Speaker 3: lot of questions about who gets slotted where if they're
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  Speaker 3: winning that and the impression I got you can clarify
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  Speaker 3: this if it needs some clarification, was that for higher
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  Speaker 3: seeded teams at the top, it was going to be
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  Speaker 3: more toward first and foremost bowl tie ins I guess
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  Speaker 3: over the next year or so and then geography from there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. So for the next two years.
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  Speaker 2: There's still contracts with certain conferences with the bowls, and
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  Speaker 2: so you know, the SECS tied to the Sugar Bowl.
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  Speaker 2: If there was an SEC team in that first round,
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  Speaker 2: then we have to honor their contract for the next
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  Speaker 2: two years. But then after the contracts are honored, they're
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  Speaker 2: bolt tie ins are honored. Then it's about proximity of
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  Speaker 2: the higher seeded team. So whatever bowl is closest to
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  Speaker 2: their home to make it easy for their fans, easiest
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  Speaker 2: for their fans to travel to, that's the bowl we
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  Speaker 2: would tie them to.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I guess again, for anybody that had any
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  Speaker 3: question about this and the reason why I bring this
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  Speaker 3: up rich down here, there are a lot of folks
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  Speaker 3: who were, you know, long worm fans who like to
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  Speaker 3: think ahead and play ahead or whatever. If the team
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  Speaker 3: manages to make it into the playoff, and they were
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  Speaker 3: talking about, oh, well, the SEC championship game would be
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  Speaker 3: in Atlanta, then maybe they'd be in the Peach Bowl,
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  Speaker 3: and then they'd be in the Cotton Bowl. But it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't necessarily work that way. Using your example from last year, Michigan,
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  Speaker 3: because they were geographically closer to Dallas than Miami for
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  Speaker 3: the semifinal, would go to Dallas, and if Texas where
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  Speaker 3: the two seed in that case, they would go to
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  Speaker 3: the Orange Bowl. So the geography comes in the play
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  Speaker 3: for the higher seeds.
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  Speaker 2: Correct, that's right after I'll say, after the bowl contract
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  Speaker 2: the contractual tieser met, then it's about geography for the
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  Speaker 2: higher seed.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, all right.
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  Speaker 3: The other thing that I've found interesting, and I know
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  Speaker 3: you can shed light on this is with regard two matchups.
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  Speaker 3: Once the committee, which is, you know, ranking the teams
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  Speaker 3: every week starting next Tuesday, all the way up when
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  Speaker 3: they select the twelve team field. There were two questions
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  Speaker 3: directed at you from reporters with regard to avoiding rematches, saying,
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  Speaker 3: if two teams, say five and six, are very very close,
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  Speaker 3: might the committee look at it differently to prevent say
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  Speaker 3: a rematch between whatever Ohio State, Penn State, or whoever
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  Speaker 3: it might be, a Texas Georgia, whoever might be. But
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  Speaker 3: you were pretty plain spoken in saying that's not the
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  Speaker 3: committee's job, right, They're not looking at avoiding rematches because
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  Speaker 3: I almost get the feeling that rematches in a twelve
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  Speaker 3: team playoff may be inevitable anyway.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right, Craig, and you're right too. It's not
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  Speaker 2: their job to avoid rematches. They're going to rank order
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  Speaker 2: those teams as they see it, one to twenty five,
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  Speaker 2: and then they're gonna see them in accordance with the
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  Speaker 2: protocols that we have, and if those protocols drive some rematches,
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  Speaker 2: then so be it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, And honestly, as possible.
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  Speaker 2: You could see three teams, right, you could a team
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  Speaker 2: could they could face each other in the preseason or
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  Speaker 2: in the regular season, then see each other in the
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  Speaker 2: conference championship, then see each other again in the playoffs. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: so it could happen. But it's not the committee's job
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  Speaker 2: really to avoid those. But but they got to let
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  Speaker 2: them play it out. So that's how it's gonna that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we'll we'll take it as it comes.
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  Speaker 3: Let me ask you one other thing, and this is this.
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  Speaker 3: When this question was coming up, Uh, it made me
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  Speaker 3: think of how all for my kids at one time
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  Speaker 3: or another when they were growing up, would try to
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: present the most outlandish scenario to me and say, well,
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: what if this happened? Is this kid does this? And like,
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  Speaker 3: ultimately I'm saying, look, it's probably not gonna happen, okay,
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  Speaker 3: And in the scenario always refer is if someone asked
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  Speaker 3: you that you know, what would happen if you don't
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  Speaker 3: have a group of five team ranked in the top
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  Speaker 3: twenty five, and I think that the obvious answer is
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  Speaker 3: there's probably going to be. But even if there wasn't,
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  Speaker 3: there's a metric system in place for doing all of this,
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  Speaker 3: in compiling the data, correct.
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  Speaker 1: It's probably not going to happen. Correig, No, now you're right.
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  Speaker 2: So what would happen if that were the case and
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  Speaker 2: we didn't have a fifth conference champion in the top
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  Speaker 2: twenty five? Then we would continue to rank those conference
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  Speaker 2: champions to get the best of the remaining wherever they
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  Speaker 2: were ranked, and so the highest ranked of the remaining
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  Speaker 2: conference champions would be the fifth one that would go in. Great,
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  Speaker 2: so we would just, you know, even if they came
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  Speaker 2: out to be ranked let's say twenty seven, and you
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  Speaker 2: know we'd have to keep you know, they would still
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  Speaker 2: go in. They were just the highest ranked of the
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  Speaker 2: remaining five champions.
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  Speaker 3: That's terrific stuff, great insight, Rich. I greatly appreciate the time,
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  Speaker 3: and it's great work with the committee so far, and
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  Speaker 3: I'm looking forward to seeing the first rankings next Tuesday,
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  Speaker 3: as a lot of other fans are as well. Thanks
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  Speaker 3: so much for spending a few minutes with us on this,
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  Speaker 3: and I'll look forward to seeing you down the road.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks Greg.
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate you having me and giving us a chance to,
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  Speaker 2: you know, educate and talk to people about what's going on.
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  Speaker 1: So we're excited and we'll see you down the road.
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  Speaker 1: All right, sounds good.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Rich. Thanks great.
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  Speaker 3: That's Rich Clark, executive director of the College Football Playoff.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: Cam will rejoin us. We've got some pro basketball and
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: football notes coming up. Talk about the Cowboys when we
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: continue on Sports Radio AM thirteen under the zone of
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: the iHeartRadio app.