Report: CFP Committee Discussions Were 'Tense'; Took 6-8 Votes to Determine Playoff

The College Football Playoff selection committee reportedly struggled to come to an agreement before finally settling on the four teams that will vie for the national championship.

Per Heather Dinich of ESPN, one source described the conversations as "tense" at times, and Boo Corrigan, the chair of the 13-person committee and the athletic director at NC State, said the group voted on the top four between six and eight times. Corrigan added that there was "never a moment of rushing it."

Another source told Dinich the situation "never got heated, never got ugly," but it was "way more complicated and way more agonizing than some people may think."

The committee named Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama to the four-team field. Most notably, Florida State was left out despite having a 13-0 record and winning the ACC championship. Excluding an undefeated Power 5 conference champion was the most crucial decision for the committee.

"All of us had the emotional tie, like, 'Holy s--t, this is really going to suck to do this,'" one committee member told Dinich. "We talked about that over and over, and we just kept coming back [to] are they good enough with what they have to win a national championship, and it just kept coming back [to] we didn't think they could."

The two semifinal games will be played on New Year's Day with Michigan facing Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Washington taking on Texas in the Sugar Bowl. The national championship game will be played on Jan. 8 in Houston.