The final College Football Playoff rankings reveal sent the sports world into meltdown mode. Despite going 2-10 and winless in SEC play, Arkansas football fans had to endure that circus, too.
That, of course, is by virtue of Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek accepting the title of CFP committee chair after Baylor’s Mack Rhoades stepped down midseason.
Thus, the Razorback AD has been front and center on the hot seat every week with the burden of trying to explain the inexplicable. Arkansas fans weren’t exactly thrilled with the optics of Yurachek taking the position in the first place given the fact he simultaneously had to conduct a football coaching search this fall. When Yurachek’s time in the limelight came around, things got so, so much worse.
The latest in a long line of gaffes on national TV came on College Gameday on Saturday, when Yurachek was interviewed by Rece Davis and the rest of the ESPN crew, including legendary former Alabama coach Nick Saban. Yurachek’s hands were tied with so many unknowns heading into the conference championship games, which forced him to keep things “close to the vest,” as Davis said.
Saban, never one to mince words, was not impressed.
“Did he answer any questions that you asked, or did I miss something?” the 74-year-old chided, long-range pointer in hand like a disgruntled professor.
“I’m not gonna let you off that easy on Sunday,” Davis warned. Fellow pundit Pat McAfee sarcastically wished him good luck sorting out the impending mess, and the rest of the crew busted out laughing.
And boy did Davis stay true to his word.
The CFP Committee Circus
The committee finally bit the bullet on Sunday to resolve the entirely self-inflicted crisis involving Miami and Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish had consistently been ranked ahead of the Hurricanes despite having the same record and Miami boasting a head-to-head win. Yurachek previously pointed to Notre Dame’s two ranked losses as opposed to Miami’s two unranked losses, even though one of those ranked losses was to Miami. Later, he claimed the two teams weren’t even being discussed together because they weren’t in the same “comparative pools” – whatever that means — even though they’re only ranked two spots apart.
On Sunday, Yurachek said the two teams’ resumes were “almost equal,” and when they moved next to each other in the rankings by virtue of Brigham Young’s loss, Miami got the nod while Notre Dame was left out. Yet if their resumes have been “almost equal,” why were the Irish ranked above Miami in the first place?
Davis cornered Yurachek on this point and ended up forcing him to contradict himself and admit that the two teams had been compared before Sunday. Yurachek sniped back at Saban at the end of the interview, assuring the legendary coach he’d answered all of his questions this time around.
The committee also kept Alabama steadfast at No. 9 despite getting drubbed by Georgia, with Yurachek claiming they didn’t want to punish the Crimson Tide for playing in a conference championship game. Except for the fact that BYU was moved out of the field after losing to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game.
