ESPN College Football Commentators Put their Committee Caps on for CFP Selection Mock

From the moment you step into the College Football Playoff selection room at the Gaylord Texan, you’re reminded that the selection process is about more than numbers on a page. A hat rack at the door symbolizes leaving biases behind, while a challenge coin handed to each participant reinforces the committee’s values of integrity, humility and excellence.

For more than a decade, ESPN has participated in this annual exercise, giving commentators a firsthand look at how the official CFP Selection Committee works. The CFP hosts this mock with a handful of select groups each fall, and this year’s ESPN mock featured Sam Acho, Victoria Arlen, Max Browne, Chase Daniel, Kendra Douglas, Dustin Fox, Lowell Galindo, Alyssa Lang, Courtney Lyle, Aaron Murray, Matt Schumacker and Fozzy Whittaker. The goal was both simple and complex: wrestle with the same difficult decisions the real committee faces every fall.

It didn’t take long for the weight of those decisions to sink in. A discussion about who should take Nos. 2-4 stretched more than 30 minutes. Rarely was there full consensus on any team, outside of a unanimous No. 1 in Oregon. CFP Executive Director Rich Clark reminded the group, the committee’s work is meant to be exhaustive, and at times, exhausting. “You’re an expressive group,” he remarked with a smile, while 2025-26 Committee Chair and Baylor AD Mack Rhoades laughed, “This group wore me out.” CFP COO Byron Hatch noted that “ESPN is always the liveliest mock,” while CFP staffer Wes Gentry joked, “I’m exhausted.”

Rhoades’s leadership style kept the room engaged and while head-to-head wins, late-season losses and strength of schedule carried the day, the human element was impossible to ignore. As Galindo observed, “I wish there was a way to hold yourself accountable so you can’t use an argument against one team and for another team to keep it consistent.” Lang shared, “There is more of a human element than I anticipated – while weighing data is important, judging what you are seeing with your own eye is weighed just as heavily, if not more so in some cases.”

“I’m very much a film first guy,” said Browne. “So my favorite part was hearing the different perspectives that everyone comes at this with because most people latch on to data, which is great, but the range of opinions is healthy in a process like this. Taking part in this mock is part of what’s so cool about being on board here. I’ve covered football for years, but access like this comes with the opportunity of being at ESPN and ACC Network and it’s cool to see this come to life.”

By the end, the group produced a top 25 utilizing 2024 teams and results but using the straight seeding model that will be implemented this season. The faux committee selected their teams without once peeking ahead at hypothetical matchups or even discussing the bracket. After hours of debate, deliberation and data, one thing was clear: building a playoff bracket and Top 25 is somehow even more complex than we make it look on television.