First Task for Panel in New Playoff System IRVING, Tex. - On paper, the credentials of the 13-member college football selection committee announced Wednesday appear above reproach. Yet even as the mechanics of their mission - to seek a true Football Bowl Subdivision champion - were rolled out, officials acknowledged it would be hard for the members to be perceived as neutral enough to satisfy fans" scrutiny. Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press Jeff Long, the chairman of a committee that will determine the semifinal pairings in a new F.B.S. postseason system. And with tens of millions of dollars at stake in what will now be a true postseason, the committee will surely be scoured for bias. So let the controversies for the 2014-15 season begin. "We will make this as transparent as possible," the committee's chairman, Jeff Long, said. Many of us have worked at many different institutions and many different conferences. Certainly we couldn't recuse ourselves from all the universities we have been associated with. Part of the work of the committee will be to work through this recusal process. The committee, which will select four teams to advance to the playoff, includes five athletic directors: Long (Arkansas, where he also serves as vice chancellor), Barry Alvarez (Wisconsin), Pat Haden (Southern California), Oliver Luck (West Virginia) and Dan Radakovich (Clemson). The appointment of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the committee came under fire even before it was officially announced. Rice was provost at Stanford from 1993 to 1999 and oversaw its athletics, including the football program's budget, recruiting, coaching personnel and bowl appearances. She hired Tyrone Willingham, now a fellow committee member, as Stanford's coach in 1994. "I've been in enough positions to respect people with different views," Rice said Wednesday. Not everyone on the committee has played the game, but I'm a student of the game. Members will be limited to three-year terms, although some might initially rotate out earlier or later. Members will not be assigned to monitor conferences in which they are employed. There will be no limit on the number of teams chosen from one conference, which could lead to a Southeastern Conference-dominated playoff. The SEC set a record this week with eight teams in the top 25 of the Associated Press poll, including three in the top 10. Beginning midseason, the committee will meet four or five times, the executive director, Bill Hancock, said, and it will release a top-25 ranking before determining the semifinal pairings on the selection weekend at the end of the season. The semifinal games in the first postseason will be the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl; later, the Cotton Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl and the Chick-fil-A Bowl will be included in the rotation. The first national championship game under the format is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2015, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex. The committee said it would consider five factors: conference champions, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, common opponents and injuries. Downgrading a team because of a key injury could raise questions. Missouri, 6-0 and ranked No. 14 in the A.P. poll, lost quarterback James Franklin to a shoulder injury in last week's victory at Georgia and now faces an uphill climb to the SEC championship game. Were the committee system in place this year, the team might well have already been removed from the playoff picture. But with four of its six remaining games at home, Missouri could still finish strongly, even with a backup quarterback. Hancock and Long defended using injuries as a factor. "It would be unfair if we didn't take into account injuries as they got into the later part of the season," Long said, adding, "They do play a factor in the strength of the team when they finish the year and go on to the playoffs."