GRAPEVINE, Texas -- College Football Playoff selection committee member Steve Wieberg will miss the first Top 25 ranking meeting of the season for health reasons, according to a CFP spokesperson.
Wieberg's doctor did not clear him to travel to Grapevine, Texas, leaving the group with 12 voting members -- the same number it has had in each of the past three seasons, the CFP spokesperson said. While it's not a serious issue, there is no timetable for Wieberg's return, and he will not weigh in on the debates remotely. The group meets Monday evening and Tuesday morning in advance of the release of its first rankings of the 2017 season (Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN App).
"The committee was set up with sufficient numbers in case there are any absences," CFP executive director Bill Hancock said. "We anticipated there could be people who miss meetings, either because of weather delays or for other reasons, such as a health issue. We'll see how Steve feels next week, and how his doctor feels about him traveling.
"We always miss anyone who is not here and hope they get well soon."
Wieberg is a conference point-person for the ACC and the Mountain West Conferences, meaning he's not an advocate for those leagues, but he provides a report on them to make sure the committee has all the most recent information on each team. The CFP will still have his input on those reports, and there are also two people assigned to each league, so Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens is there to handle the Mountain West report, along with Tyrone Willingham, who also monitors the ACC with Wieberg. They were expected to give their reports at the start of Monday's meetings.
Wieberg, a former college football reporter for USA Today, usually travels to the meetings from Kansas City, Missouri, where he is a writer and editor in the public affairs department of the Kansas City Public Library.
He is the latest in a long line of committee members who have either missed meetings or stepped down entirely for health reasons. In October 2014, the first season of the playoff, Archie Manning resigned his position on the committee for health reasons before the group met for the first time. That year, Mike Tranghese also missed some time during his tenure for health reasons.
Former USC athletic director Pat Haden stepped down from the committee in October 2015 because his doctors advised him to reduce his traveling for health reasons. In 2016, former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr resigned his position with the committee before it even began, also citing health reasons.