College football playoff committee announced

IRVING, Texas, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was selected to be on the 13-member panel to select the teams for next year's first College Football Playoff.

While Rice's participation in the selection process was reported earlier, College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock officially released the committee's makeup Wednesday.

Most of the panel members are well-known because of their football-related activities, which led to criticism when Rice's name was suggested. In addition to a more political background, Rice, a faculty member at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, is the only woman on the committee.

"Condi definitely earned her spot on this committee," Hancock said. "She knows this game. She is a student of this game."

Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long was named the committee chairman. The group is tasked with picking the four teams that will take part in the CFP after the 2014 regular season.

Former NFL quarterbacks Pat Haden, Oliver Luck and Archie Manning are also on the panel along with former coaches Barry Alvarez, Tom Osborne and Tyrone Willingham.

Alvarez is the athletic director at Wisconsin and Haden holds that position at Southern California. Clemson Athletic Director Dan Radakovich is also on the committee.

The others on the panel are former Big East Conference Commissioner Mike Tranghese, former NCAA Executive Vice President Tom Jernstedt, former Air Force Academy Superintendent Mike Gould and former college football sports writer Steve Wieberg.

Hancock said the committee will meet four times during the football season and release rankings every other week starting in mid-October.

Besides selecting teams for the College Football Playoff, the committe will rank and place at-large teams for the Cotton, Fiesta and Chick-fil-A bowls.