-
Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said Sunday that he would need to assess his nonconference scheduling philosophy moving forward after the Crimson Tide were the first team left out of the 12-team College Football Playoff field.
In a post on X, Byrne said he was “disappointed” with the outcome and acknowledged the losses to .500 teams Vanderbilt and Oklahoma as “two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have.”
But he also added that nonconference scheduling is an area that would have to be evaluated.
“We have said that we would need to see how strength of schedule would be evaluated by the CFP,” Byrne wrote. “With this outcome, we will need to asses how many P4 nonconference games make sense in the future to put us in the best position to participate in the CFP. That is not good for college football.”
Alabama only played one Power 4 nonconference game this year — a 42-10 win at Wisconsin. But next year, the Crimson Tide have two Power 4 nonconference games — at Florida State to open the season on Aug. 30, and a return home game against Wisconsin on Sept. 13.
“Strength of schedule matters,” Byrne posted to X late Saturday night, before the CFP field was announced. “Not all schedules and conferences are created equal. Six of our eight wins are against bowl eligible teams and have come against some of the top teams in the sec, including sec champion Georgia.”
SMU (11-2) edged out 9-3 Alabama for the final at-large spot in the first 12-team playoff. Alabama is now set to play Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Florida, on Dec. 31.
“Brands like Alabama, brands like Clemson — the bluebloods of our sport — they’ve earned that right,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said Sunday. “But that doesn’t mean they should get the nod in situations like this. I was really proud and thankful that didn’t play into the final decision.”
A quick schedule comparison shows Alabama with the edge over SMU in a few categories — ranking higher than SMU in strength of record (No. 9; SMU was 15th), ESPN’s FPI (fourth; SMU ranks No. 13) and Top 25 wins (3 for Bama; zero for SMU).
“We value strength of schedule,” CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel said earlier Sunday. “That’s why Alabama is a three-loss team ranked ahead of other teams that have two losses.”
That statement drew a rebuke on social media from Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, who also tagged the Alabama and SMU football accounts on his response.
“Is this fake news???” Kiffin posted to X. “he didn’t actually really say that … @AlabamaFTBL @SMUFB”
Is this fake news??? he didn’t actually really say that …. @AlabamaFTBL @SMUFB https://t.co/APxNx1xXJZ
— Lane Kiffin (@Lane_Kiffin) December 8, 2024
Ole Miss (9-3) finished the final ranking at No. 14 and felt it had a case to be in the 12-team field.
There also has been criticism of the way teams are seeded. Under the current format, the top four conference champions are seeded in the top 4 — regardless of where they are ranked by the CFP committee — and get an automatic first-round bye.
Texas, for example, were at No. 3 in the final ranking but is the No. 5 seed as the first at-large team behind conference champions Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State. Boise State at No. 9 and Arizona State at No. 12 are both ranked behind Texas but because they are conference champions, they get a first-round bye.
Texas will host 12-seed Clemson, the ACC champion, on Dec. 21.
“I just look to the NCAA basketball tournament,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian told ESPN. “If you win your conference tournament, you get an automatic bid into the tournament. But then there’s seeding. There’s 1-seeds, there’s 2-seeds — so on and so forth — and nowhere in there does it say if you win your conference championship, you get an automatic 1-seed.
“If we can get to that model from a football perspective moving forward, that teams get seeded predicated on their ranking and I’m not even talking about us. But the reality of it is, if we went just off of ranking, we’d be the third seed in this tournament as opposed to the fifth seed. I’m not saying one’s better than the other, but if we go by that model, yes there’s automatic bids into the tournament but that doesn’t necessarily give you a 1-seed where you get that bye in the first round.”
Before the CFP field was announced Sunday and as teams and conferences were politicking for placement, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said he didn’t believe any Group of 5 team should get the bye over a Power 4 champion, citing strength of schedule.
Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez, however, pushed back to support Boise State hours ahead of the bracket announcement.
“Participation in the College Football Playoff isn’t about entitlement,” Nevarez posted to social media. “It should not be contingent upon a conference patch or the logo on the helmet. … Boise State’s body of work this season, including an 11-game win streak, has earned it one of the top four seeds ahead of the Big 12 champion.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.