Last year, college coaches voted on a new playoff system for college football. The new system consists of the four best teams that will compete in two semi-final games. The winner of each of those semi-final games will move on to the final. All three playoff finals will be played in bowl games.

The purpose of the changes and new system is to bring out better play, more intense games and a fair ranking for each team.

This new system is a great idea but how can one determine who the four best teams in all of college football are?

First of all, a 13-member committee was created to make all final decisions. The committee has college administrators and past coaches, reporters and players. Second, weekly polls are not taken for the ranks of the teams until mid-season. This way there is no bias for how a team did in the past season. Then the committee begins to look at factors such as conference championships, difficulty of schedule, common opponents and any other factor that could effect a team’s results.

Once the top four teams are chosen and ranked, the wait for the bowl games begin. The number one seed plays the number four seed while number two plays number three. Each of the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A bowls will switch off between who gets to host the two semi-finals every year. The final will also switch places each year and can be played anywhere.

Executive Director of the College Football Playoff Bill Hancock said, “The [selection] committee will select the best four teams, period, no strings attached. We think the playoff gives us the best of both worlds. Our goal with the [Bowl Championship Series] going into this was to maintain the best regular season in sports. We’ve done that with the playoff. Four teams is not too many. It does not go too far. It goes just far enough. It also preserves the bowl system and the bowl experience for student-athletes top to bottom, which is very important to us.”

College athletes and coaches are looking forward to this more fair system of choosing the best teams in the league. Stay tuned for when the rankings are finalized and announced in December.