December 8th 2024.
The long-awaited announcement for the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff was finally made on Sunday morning. It was a relief for many, as if the process had gone on any longer, it could have caused chaos and even led to confrontations between conference commissioners in intense steel-cage matches.
Of course, not all the news sparked outrage. The top two seeds, Oregon and Georgia, were exactly as expected. The Mountain West champion, Boise State, and the Big 12 winner, Arizona State, claimed the third and fourth seeds respectively, earning them byes in the opening round. Home games in the first round were awarded to Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State.
But that's where the calmness ended. The selection committee's decision to grant the final at-large berth to SMU instead of Alabama instantly sparked fury in the SEC commissioner, Greg Sankey. Despite having a tougher schedule and more quality wins, Alabama was snubbed in favor of the ACC runner-up.
This was not the only issue causing controversy. Boise State, with a weaker schedule, was seeded above Arizona State, forcing the Sun Devils to play in the Peach Bowl while the Broncos got to go to the Fiesta Bowl for their quarterfinal game. This debate was just a continuation of the past five weeks, where athletic directors argued on social media, conference commissioners argued over resumes, and even the committee chair, Warde Manuel from Michigan, seemed to contradict the selection criteria.
All of this was happening while the threat of major changes loomed over the sport. Just two months prior, the SEC and Big Ten executives met to discuss the future of college football. Sankey, the most influential figure in the sport, made it clear that the CFP process "just has to go incredibly well." In other words, if these conferences were not satisfied with their bids and seeds, they would push for changes to the selection process, potentially taking away automatic bids from other conferences and even getting rid of the selection committee altogether.
Needless to say, things did not go "incredibly well" for the SEC. In fact, it couldn't have gone much worse. Alabama was excluded, Tennessee lost their No. 8-9 seed showdown against Ohio State, and three-loss South Carolina was left out entirely, despite their recent win against three-loss Clemson. This could have major repercussions for the sport for years to come.
And the tension only grew when Alabama's athletic director, Greg Byrne, posted a message on social media about the strength of schedule not being rewarded. This implied that the Crimson Tide may reconsider scheduling tough non-conference games in the future, which could result in a domino effect for other SEC schools, potentially taking away some of the most exciting matchups of the season.
The committee chair, Manuel, was asked about this issue on ESPN, to which he responded that teams should schedule games that are best for their team and their fan base. With the expanded playoff and larger conferences, it was no surprise that the selection process was anything but smooth.
The committee made frequent and severe mistakes, seemingly prioritizing win-loss record over head-to-head results, schedule strength, and quality wins. It was almost as if the former coaches on the committee were channeling their inner Lou Holtz, the ultimate sandbagger, and considering a 74-point win over Western Illinois to be equal to a 15-point win at Texas.
But there were also risks in selecting Alabama over SMU. If the committee had excluded the Mustangs after their close loss to Clemson in the ACC championship, it could have undermined the credibility of conference title games. As ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit put it, "the committee is going to lose no matter what they do."
In the end, Alabama was left out, the SEC was furious, and major changes are bound to happen to the CFP as a result. It's a reminder that not all wins and losses are created equal, and the consequences of these decisions could have a lasting impact on the sport.
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