Fiesta Bowl Executive Director Erik Moses can’t wait for Tuesday to get here — and not for the reason most might think. Sure it’s the long-awaited election day. But it’s also the day the first college football rankings are released.
The march to the first 12-team College Football Playoff will officially begin. The fact that eight more teams will be included has added intrigue to this college football season.
“It starts to feel even more real,” Moses said of the initial ranking release. “We start to see that first ranking and all of us can start doing the what ifs in our head about what team might go where or what have you.
“We know that those things can change and the way these teams are knocking each other off this season, nothing can be locked in. But it really starts kind of solidify once those rankings start coming out.”
Moses spoke to the media Tuesday at the Fiesta Bowl headquarters in Scottsdale. A mock selection demonstrated how the process will play out throughout the season.
The Fiesta Bowl is slated to host a quarterfinal game on Dec. 31 at State Farm Stadium. It will be the first quarterfinal, which Moses said is appropriate. Teams arrive Dec. 28. Communications VP Scott Leightman said there won’t be so many community events, and the teams will be here for just a few days — rather than the usual five days — because of the added playoff games.
“We call ourselves a bowl of firsts because we’ve been innovative in many ways, including being the first title sponsor of a bowl game and various other things,” he said. “We think it’s fitting that the first quarterfinal ever will be in the Valley at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, so we’re excited to show the rest of the country how we do it out here in the Valley. We know it’s going to be a great game.”
The Fiesta Bowl has traditionally featured a Big 12 school. The new playoff format doesn’t necessarily ensure that, but there is a strong likelihood that will be the case, according to Leightman, who ran through the mock selection with the media.
The 13-member selection committee will try to keep traditional bowl ties and geography in mind. There will not be any attempt to avoid rematches of games within the same conference. The field will not be re-seeded after the first round of games.
Entering play on Saturday, it was Iowa State (7-0, 4-0) and Brigham Young (8-0, 5-0) unbeaten in Big 12 play, with Kansas State (7-1, 4-1) lurking if the other two falter. Moses said all of those schools have impressive fan followings and would be great draws for the Valley.
Iowa State and BYU do not play each other in the regular season but could see each other in the conference championship game. Kansas State still has a game with Iowa State. It’s the last game of the season.
“I’m excited,” Leightman said. “I think any of those teams that would be great here, have been here before and would be playing a team that had just won a first-round game which most people think will be the No. 2 team in the SEC or the Big 10 matched up possibly against a Group of 5 highest rated champ, so it makes for a fantastic and excited football.”
Leightman also emphasized the difference between rankings and seeding. What will come out Tuesday is the ranking, which won’t be reflective of how the draw will pan out.
The top four conference champions receive the top four seeds and earn a first-round bye. So while there could be two Big Ten teams or two SEC teams in the initial rankings release, they wouldn’t stay there even if they didn’t lose because a Big 12 champion and ACC champion would have to be included in those top four.
That also means Notre Dame (7-1 entering Saturday) is not eligible for a top-four seed because it is an independent.
A Group of 5 team must also make the top 12 and, right now, that looks like Boise State. So even if the Broncos were ranked lower than No. 12, they would make the playoff if they were the best Group of 5 representative.
A new ranking will come out each Tuesday, capped off by the announcement of the seedings and game pairings on Dec. 8.
One scenario in which the Fiesta Bowl could end up without a Big 12 team would be if the Big 12 teams beat each other up and Boise State were to somehow finish in the top four. That isn’t likely to happen based on the strength of schedule, with Boise State competing in the Mountain West.
SMU winning the ACC rather than unbeaten Miami could also throw a monkey wrench into the mix, but it all starts Tuesday when the first CFP rankings are released.
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