No doubt many of you have served on some sort of committee over the years. Professional, social, or recreational committees are charged with a decision-making purpose for the organization they represent. They are intended to bring together a representative group to arrive at a meaningful outcome.
While they are commonplace, it has often been stated that ‘if you want to get something accomplished in a timely manner, don’t take it to a committee.’ Committee decisions can be agonizingly time-consuming. Their findings can be filled with indecisiveness, debated compromise, diffused responsibilities, and dominated by stronger personalities within the group.
Throughout the fall, the media and college football fans weekly debated the work of the college football playoff selection committee tasked with the purpose of ranking those teams worthy of participating in the NCAA’s championship countdown. That 13-member committee found itself facing those same pitfalls noted above, with the added pressure of the constant scrutiny of what they were doing.
Chaired by Iowa athletic director Gary Barta, the committee members generally serve three-year terms and meet in person weekly from late in the football season to announce their rankings. Their work is guided by criteria including conference championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and comparison of results against common opponents. They also assign teams to the New Year’s six bowl games, taking into consideration competitive matchups, avoiding rematches and geographic locations.
It is a thankless job. Selecting which four teams will have the opportunity to play for the national championship will always leave people upset. But despite all the angst raised, let’s give credit where it is due; this year, that committee got it right.
Monday night, the nation’s two undefeated teams, number one Michigan and number two Washington, clashed head-to-head to determine who would wear the crown of an undefeated national champion. Both the Wolverines and Huskies punched their ticket to the ultimate game with hard-fought victories over Alabama and Texas, with neither of those games decided until the final play.
When the committee announced the final four matchups on December 3, the public outcry was that undefeated Florida State should have been included over one-loss teams Alabama and Texas. Understanding the #5 Seminoles were without their starting QB, the boys from Tallahassee were embarrassed by #6 Georgia 63-3 in a lackluster Orange Bowl matchup.
Georgia, ranked number one most of the year, may be the best team in college football. But they lost to #4 Alabama, then lost to #3 Texas. With both of those teams losing to Michigan and Washington.
Next season, the college football playoff will be expanded to twelve teams. When the committee announces those teams next December, whichever team is ranked 13th will be screaming they were disrespected. But for now, the football selection committee’s work was spot-on.
Speaking of committees, unlike the NCAA’s, its members are not publicly known, but those individuals tasked with selecting Pennsylvania’s All-State football squads should be well-thought-of locally as a bevy of area athletes earned recognition.
South Williamsport’s Chris Eiswerth’s 13th season as the Mountaineers head coach concluded with the honor of being named Pennsylvania’s Class A Coach of the Year. His team won the District IV championship and advanced to the state semifinals. Eiswerth joins Jersey Shore’s Tom Gravish as the only area coaches to achieve the honor this century.
Three of Eiswerth’s players were named to the Class A All-State team: seniors Ryan Casella (running back), offensive lineman Chris Confer, and junior defensive back Dylan Scheller.
Muncy running back junior Austin Johnson joined the South trio on the Class A team. During his three varsity seasons, Johnson ran for more than 1,000 yards and has scored touchdowns in 17 straight games.
Loyalsock also had a trio of players named to the AAA team. Quarterback Tyler Gee earned all-state honors for the third straight year and became the first District Four player to top 2,000 passing yards in each of those years. Gee’s favorite target, wide receiver Jaylen Andrews (73 receptions, 1,465 yards, and 13 TDs), and linebacker Logan Bastain joined him on the first team.
For the fifth straight year, three Jersey Shore Bulldogs were selected to the state’s AAAA team: seniors Dyson Delaney (offensive lineman), Bo Sechrist (linebacker), and junior Elijah Jordan (runner, receiver, safety). Additionally, Coach Gravish received the honor to coach Pennsylvania’s Big 33 team in this year’s game.
Congratulations on the well-deserved recognition our area athletes received. Kudos also go out to the committee members making those selections.
