GRAPEVINE, Texas -- The College Football Playoff 13-member selection committee wrapped up two days of meetings Thursday and came up with some recommendations, including the recusal policy and how often rankings will be released.
In 146 days, the college football season begins, the first with a new four-team playoff. How the teams will be selected for the playoff, what selection committee members will be allowed to vote or not vote for which teams and a minutia of other details are still unknown.
But they're getting closer. Maybe not at the breakneck speed of the new fast-paced offenses, but all the details on how the teams will be selected for the new College Football Playoff is slowly and surely coming together.
The committee, which met at the Gaylord Texan, will forward the recommendations to the College Football Playoff's management committee, executive director Bill Hancock and chairman Jeff Long said.
The management committee, which consists of the 10 conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, will meet later this month in the Dallas area to approve those.
The recusal policy determines which committee members will not be allowed to vote for specific schools, based on their ties to that university. The policy is expected to be similar to -- but not exactly like -- the one used for the NCAA basketball selection committee.
Hancock and Long would not disclose what the committee members recommended for their recusal policy or how strict it would be. Possible issues for members could center around voting for alma maters or past/present employers.
Hancock and Long, who also is Arkansas' athletic director, said the committee members did not volunteer their ties to other schools, but that "we know those past associations."
They also said the committee is considering various voting models, as well as trying to determine what data will be used to evaluate teams.
"There is an abundance of data available for us to use, probably more than we would be able to use," Long said. "The 13 members may use the data differently than another member."
The committee members consist of current and former athletic directors, a former conference commissioner, former coaches, former players and other notable individuals. It includes: Barry Alvarez, Mike Gould, Pat Haden, Tom Jernstedt, Oliver Luck, Archie Manning, Tom Osborne, Dan Radakovich, Condoleezza Rice, Mike Tranghese, Steve Wieberg, Tyrone Willingham and Long.
While there remain several unknowns, this much is known:
• The committee members will meet in Dallas during the season to discuss and release their top 25 rankings. The rankings are expected to start in midseason, in October, but it's unknown after the initial rankings if it will be weekly or bi-weekly.
• The Top 25 rankings will consist only of the 25 teams. The committee will not disclose first-place votes or total number of poll points -- like the AP and coaches' polls do -- for each team. So, for instance, it will be unknown how close team No. 4 is from No. 5. How individual members voted also will not be revealed.
• The final poll, which determines the four playoff teams and other non-major bowl game pairings,will be released from Dallas. When that final poll is released -- either on the Saturday night after the final games are completed, or on Sunday -- is still to be determined.