Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher lobbied strongly for his team’s inclusion in this year’s College Football Playoff following the Aggies’ 34-13 win at Tennessee.
The Aggies, who entered the weekend ranked No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings, deserve to be included because of how well it endured the grind of an SEC-only schedule, Fisher said.
“Seven straight SEC wins,” Fisher said after the game. “Some schools ain’t even playing seven games.
“I don’t care what league you’re in. If you’re gonna pick the best four teams, we’re one of them.”
In the history of the CFP, no one-loss SEC team has failed to make the playoff. The Aggies’ only loss was to No. 1 Alabama.
“We do deserve to be in it,” Fisher said. “You’re gonna hear me say it now. We deserve to be in it. Now the committee, that’s their thing, but I believe that firmly. I’ve watched the games, I’ve seen everybody. We can play with anybody.”
Added Fisher: “Eight wins in the SEC, I wanna see somebody else do it.”
The most likely scenario for the Aggies to make it into the playoff would be if either No. 3 Clemson or No. 4 Ohio State lost, but Ohio State completed its 6-0 regular season with a Big Ten championship game win over Northwestern on Saturday. Clemson and No. 2 Notre Dame kicked off the ACC championship later Saturday.
After his team endured nine SEC games, Fisher emphasized that how many games his team played – which is three more than Ohio State – should matter.
“That is a big part of it,” Fisher said. “We’re out there a month longer, the bangs, the bruises, the practices, all that stuff matters…The political end of this thing trying to get guys out there they want to push their own schools to get up in there is ridiculous. Put the best teams in there.”
Fisher coached a BCS national champion at Florida State in 2013 and an FSU team that made the first College Football Playoff in 2014. Asked if this A&M team is championship-caliber, Fisher said yes.
“It has the character, it has the ability,” Fisher said. “Now I don’t know if we’ll win one, but it has the characteristics to win one and should have the opportunity to win one.”
In his sideline interview immediately following the win, Fisher told ESPN reporter Quint Kessenich that if the Aggies get left out, “something’s wrong.”
“We played the best league in ball,” Fisher said. “We got beat by the No. 1 team in the country, who also had another superstar on the team, when they played us, named [Jaylen] Waddle. People ain’t even playing with him now.
“No team in SEC history has lost but one game and [not] been in it. The other leagues, I love ’em all. But if we can’t play in this league and be in the playoff, something’s wrong.”