Alabama Fans Are Already Bashing The College Football Playoff Committee For Leaving Out The Crimson Tide After Terrible Performances From SMU & Indiana

Aaron Ryan·
CULTURESPORTS
·
Penn State SMU college football playoff
TBS

You know the committee hates to see this.

It’s the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoffs, and even after expanding the field, there was still plenty of debate and controversy over the teams selected by the playoff committee.

The final spot came down to 11-2 SMU and 9-3 Alabama, with the Mustangs eventually getting the final spot despite losing to Clemson in the ACC championship game. But there were plenty of people who thought the Crimson Tide should have gotten in because of their strength of schedule and the resume of the teams they had beaten.

In coach Kalen DeBoer’s first season in Tuscaloosa, Alabama had wins over then-#2 ranked Georgia, #15 South Carolina, and #19 Missouri. But after losing to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and completely shitting the bed against Oklahoma, the committee decided to put SMU in over the Tide.

As fans pointed out though, SMU had a grand total of…zero wins against top 25 teams, losing both of their games against ranked teams this season in matchups with BYU and Clemson.

Alabama finished the season with the 18th toughest strength of schedule, while SMU’s SOS was ranked 60th in college football. But ultimately, the decision came down to the question of whether an Alabama team that went 9-3 during the regular season and didn’t make the SEC championship game should get in over an SMU team that went 11-1 in the regular season and only lost by 3 in their conference championship.

Well long story short, the final spot in the playoffs went to SMU and the Crimson Tide will instead take on the 7-5 Michigan Wolverines in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Years Eve.

The playoffs started yesterday, with Notre Dame taking the win over Indiana 27-17 in a game that wasn’t really as close as the final score reflected. And now, 11-seed SMU is getting destroyed by 6-seed Penn State.

The game’s still going on, but the Nittany Lions are currently up 38-3 over the Mustangs early in the 4th quarter. And naturally, there’s already plenty of chatter about the inclusion of SMU in the playoffs and whether Alabama would have put on a better performance:

Of course, on the other side of the argument, this (probably) wouldn’t have happened if Alabama hadn’t gotten destroyed by Oklahoma, or lost to Vandy:

I’ve gotta say though, I’m sure the committee is watching this game and going to remember this next year if they find themselves in the same situation. While they said strength of schedule was taken into account this year, there’s already been plenty of discussion about how much it really mattered in the final selections.

After this game though, my fear is that next year the committee will overcorrect and put TOO much emphasis on strength of schedule, leaving out teams that deserve to be there simply because they don’t play an SEC or Big 10 schedule.

Hopefully the rest of the games today end up being better than the first two playoff games we’ve gotten. But either way, one thing’s for sure: Alabama fans are going to be absolutely insufferable after this one.

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