Yahoo Sports national columnist Dan Wetzel, senior college sports reporter Ross Dellenger and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss the committee’s announcement that it will not avoid rematches when piecing together the 12-team bracket and why that’s a good thing for the structure of the field. Hear the full conversation on the “College Football Enquirer” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

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Video Transcript

Do not break the bracket to avoid a rematch.

It would be nice if you can.

But, but this, the basketball, it's easier to do because it's a bigger bracket.

You got more wiggle room, more places to move people around.

This is a 12 team deal and I saw somebody said, you know, when this first came up the other day, just, you know, can you just change a five to a six or, you know, to, to avoid a 5, 12, 6, 11?

No, because a five seed is a really significant seed in this bracket, it's an advantageous seed and if somebody deserves the five seed, you give it to them as opposed to.

Well, we don't want them to have a rematch with somebody.

I just think the bracket is, it's too small and there's too many barriers to, to fudging things around just to avoid two teams playing each other that happened to play in October.

It's the perception that you're, you're doing anything but following protocol is what they want to avoid because all of a sudden everyone's gonna start screaming.

Well, if you're doing that, you're favoring this team, you're favoring this league and this committee is going to be under enormous issues.

Your committee loses credibility every single week when they rank these teams and then have to explain it.

They don't follow the same plan each week and they come up with metrics and the poor man or woman who's got to be the chair and, and get grilled every week on why someone's ranked 19th and not 24th and ball game control and road turnover ratios.

And these things come up.

It's really important that this committee has credibility and they will start undermining it on Tuesday.

And so, uh, they need to have the best they can be to look like, hey, we just laid out our 12.

If there's rematches, there's rematches.

Look, did anyone hate Oregon and Washington play in a rematch last year in the PAC 12 championship game?

Would anyone else hate it?

If Ohio State and Oregon played again in the big 10 championship?

Like rematches have happened, they, they happened in Alabama and Georgia in the sec title game.

Things have, things have happened in the past.

You deal with it.

I think you got to stick to the protocol.

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