The Daily Player 12: Art's Not Here

What else could Selection Committee honcho Kirby Hocutt say?

Dude came out with the obviosity that their job of judging teams -- who otherwise deal in absolutes like scores -- was an art and not a science.

Of course it is. And that's the issue.

It's also a subliminal theme in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Sometimes, the blondes strike back.

That's kinda what happened last week, when the Committee flashed a bit of misplaced love for the SEC, choosing Texas A&M as a Featured Four designate. They cherry-picked the facts that supported their judgment at the expense of a big picture hinting otherwise.

Mississippi State took care of that in rather dramatic fashion.

Duly chastened -- at least for one week -- the Committee faced all the facts this time and made a stab at the science end of the spectrum:

1. Alabama	3. Michigan
2. Clemson	4. Washington
5. Ohio State	9. Auburn
6. Louisville	10. Penn State
7. Wisconsin	11. Oklahoma
8. Texas A&M	12. Colorado

Inherent in science, though, is logic.

And isn't it the epitome of logic for competitors who have the ability to settle matters themselves be permitted to do so?

It certainly works for college football's other divisions, whose academic standards and injury rates aren't significantly different from the FBS.

Furthermore, isn't it also logical to take the Committee at its word for selection criteria?

That's what the Daily Player 12 is all about, and it's not that tough. For a full description of how we converted their words into numbers, click here.

And here are this week's results of those calculations:

A few observations:

• Sorry, Louisville, if you can't get out of your own division, they'll be partying without you on New Year's Eve.
• It's notable that our nominated crunchers -- Anderson-Hester -- like Ohio State's statistical body of work more than Washington's.
• As this format is results-based, it's possible that a Big XII club will show up sooner or later, but on this tally, West Virginia holds the XII's highest position, at No17 with 20.2 points.
• If style points did count, Vanderbilt's Zach Cunningham would have his own ranking.

Hocutt also dusted off a cool version of a common word this week: incent.

In Week 11, USC at Washington will be at the ground zero of incent.

And with the Trojans still in the Pac-12 South race, art is gonna be the last thing on either team's mind.