<P> The committee releases its top 25 rankings weekly on Tuesdays in the second half of the regular season . The top four teams are seeded in that order for the playoff . During the season, the committee meets and releases rankings six or seven times, depending on the length of the season (the number of games is consistent, but the number of weeks those games are played over can vary from year to year). The group, which meets at the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine, Texas, reportedly meets in person up to 10 total times a year . </P> <P> A team's strength of schedule is one of the most pertinent considerations for the committee in making its selections . Other factors that the committee weighs are conference championships, team records, and head - to - head results, plus other points such as injuries and weather . Unlike the BCS system, the AP Poll, Coaches' Poll, and the Harris Poll, computer rankings are not used to make the selections . Advanced statistics and metrics are expected to be submitted to the committee, though like other analytics, they have no formal role in the decision . Committee members are not required to attend games . </P> <P> Long said the panel considered less frequent rankings, but ultimately decided on a weekly release . "That's what the fans have become accustomed to, and we felt it would leave a void in college football without a ranking for several weeks," he said . Long also noted: "Early on there was some talk that we would go into a room at the end of the season and come out with a top four, but that didn't last long ." In analyzing this change in thinking, Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated commented: "The whole point of the selection committee was to replace the simplistic horse - race nature of Top 25 polls--where teams only move up if someone above them loses--with a more deliberative evaluation method . Now the playoff folks are going to try to do both ." Addressing the "pecking order" nature of traditional polls, George Schrodeder of USA Today wrote that "if it actually works as intended, we could see volatile swings" from week to week, with lower - ranked teams moving ahead of higher - ranked teams without either team losing (a rarity in traditional polls). Both Long and Bill Hancock, the CFP executive director, say they expect that to happen . </P> <P> The committee's voting method uses multiple ballots, similar to the NCAA basketball tournament selection process and the entire process is facilitated through custom software developed by Code Authority in Frisco, Texas . From a large initial pool of teams, the group takes numerous votes on successive tiers of teams, considering six at a time and coming to a consensus on how they should be ranked, then repeating the process with the next tier of teams . Discussion and debate happens at each voting step . All votes are by secret ballot, and committee members do not make their ballots public . Each week's ranking process begins anew, with no weight given to the previous week's selections . In this fashion, the committee selects the four teams to compete for the national championship . </P>

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