Report: CFP Committee commits to schedule for Playoff semifinals

No change is coming to the dates for the College Football Playoff, at least not anytime soon reports ESPN’s Heather Dinich.

According to Dinich, the CFP Committee informed her Wednesday evening that there will be no change to the dates for the Playoff. It had been reported last week that the CFP was considering rescheduling or postponing the semifinal games due to a number of postponed games in various conferences across the country.

Now, Dinich reports that Bill Hancock informed her that the Committee is committed to and will plan everything around maintaining the regularly scheduled dates for the Playoff:

CFP exec. dir. Bill Hancock told me: "They reserve the right to discuss this again if circumstances change, but our planning is centered on holding the games on their scheduled dates." https://t.co/lCMplg8ISQ

— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) November 19, 2020

One thing that remains to be determined is what happens should one of the top four teams have issues with COVID that prevents the team from competing in a semifinal matchup? Dinich reported the Committee is also unclear on what would happen, but it is certain that there will be no substituting the No. 5 team in the rankings:

Here's what I don't know because they don't know: What happens if one of the semifinalists can't play because of COVID. All I know is No. 5 is NOT getting a bump.

— Heather Dinich (@CFBHeather) November 19, 2020

We likely will not know how the Committee will handle that specific situation unless one arises when the time comes. Hopefully we are able to avoid that issue and have a successful Playoff on time.