Rece Davis presses CFP chair on championship fallout as committee braces for unpredictable results

Conference championship weekend brings clarity and chaos in equal measure. With three conference title games matching up six teams ranked in the top 11, the most critical evaluation period yet awaits the College Football Playoff selection committee.

Hunter Yurachek, the athletic director at Arkansas and the chair of the CFP selection committee, was on with "College GameDay" host Rece Davis Saturday morning to address some of the questions about how losses in championship games might affect playoff positioning and teams sitting near the bubble.

The discussion focused on Alabama, which entered Saturday's SEC championship game against Georgia at No. 9 in the CFP rankings. Davis grilled Yurachek on a scenario that has been debated all week. During their on-air discussion, Yurachek explained the committee's mindset when it comes to teams playing an additional game.

"We've got three games today with six teams ranked in our top 11 playing, and so we'll evaluate the results of all three of those games as well as the ACC championship game," Yurachek said. "Rerank those teams one last time, and the five highest-ranked conference champions, as you've alluded to, and the seventh highest-ranked at large teams will make the pool."

The committee re-ranks all teams regardless of whether they played this weekend. Davis raised a comparison between Notre Dame and Miami, two teams with similar resumes but different rankings. The Fighting Irish sit ahead of the Hurricanes despite Miami's head-to-head victory in the season opener.

Committee will factor strength of schedule and common opponents

Yurachek explained that Saturday's championship games will affect more than just win-loss records. The committee looks at strength of schedule adjustments, common opponents and head-to-head results when teams played each other.

His response made clear that no team's position is locked simply because they aren't playing this weekend.

"Again, Rece, we'll evaluate what happens in today's championship games," Yurachek said. "There'll be some impact on what the record strength of teams will be and what the schedule strength of teams will be. There'll be a difference in the win-loss record, potentially common opponents and, of course, head-to-head metrics, and in watching those games, we'll use all of those tools in our toolbox to re-rank those teams tonight and then the early morning hours."