For many people, the holiday season means an intense focus on college football. This year, a 12-person committee develops weekly team rankings, culminating in playoffs that produce head-to-head competition for the national championship in January.
A recent comment from the chairman of that committee, Jeff Long, is reminiscent of something U.S. News & World Report law school rankings czar Robert Morse said about his own ranking system last year. Both remarks reveal how those responsible for rankings methodology rationalize distance between themselves and the behavior they incentivize.
