College Football Controversy: Alabama and the Playoffs
Photo Credits: CBS Sports
By: Ella Embry
January marks the start of a new year. It marks the start of new resolutions. It also marks the start of a widely favored sport’s event. January is the time to crown a new National Champion during the College Football Playoffs (CFP). Each year a set of teams are picked to fight against each other for the overall win. Like most sports, there are favored teams that are expected to be the best of the best each year. What would happen if one of those teams didn't qualify for the largest event of the year? For teams like Alabama, they had to learn the hard way and for an individual like myself, I disagree with the outcome of their CFP ruling.
The College Football Playoffs have been around since 2014. Essentially, it’s a post-season college football bowl game that determines the overall team to receive the title of being the NCAA Division 1 Football national champion. 12 teams make the bracket cut and get to fight each week for a spot in the final two. Before the CFP originated, polls were the main source of selection that determined the national champions before bowl games were even played. The original 2014 format consisted of a four team bracket. In 2023, a vote allowed the playoffs to expand to a new 12 team approach. This format lasts until the end of the 2025 season where there are speculations that they will upgrade to a 14 team bracket (NCAA). However, the newer and more innovative approach to the playoffs helps fans and players grasp onto their final moments of the football season. It’s always lucky to have your team make it as far as the College Football Playoffs, especially if you're used to it. The most playoff appearances by any team is Alabama. A favored team throughout the U.S.. Most people naturally assume and expect to see their name on the bracket. However, the outcome was not natural this year. 12 teams made their way onto the podium where Alabama’s name was nowhere to be found.
2025 College Football Playoff's Bracket, Photo Credits: Sporting News
On December 8th, the 12 teams that made the CFP bracket were released. Tennessee, Ohio State, Oregon, Clemon, Texas, Arizona State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Georgia, SMU, Boise State and finally Indiana. There wasn’t much confusion at first. Georgia was the second highest ranked conference champion in the SEC and seeded No. 2. Oregon was the highest ranked conference champion in the Big Ten and seeded No. 1. These major teams made the cut as expected. The only question that left people in awe was, “Where is Alabama?” This decision made by the College Football Playoff committee proceeded to stir the pot and upset fanbases all across the country. To put into perspective the dramatics, if you were to google “College Playoff controversy” the first thing to pop up on your feed would be “Alabama.” The only thing that could make the situation worse would be if they were one of the first teams out of the running for the CFP bracket. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the case was. Alabama was the first team out.
The CFP committee is in charge of who makes the bracket and runs the behind the scene details. In NCAA terms, "The selection committee ranks the teams based on the members' evaluation of the teams' performance on the field, using conference championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and comparison of results against common opponents to decide among teams that are comparable." When it came down to the final team entering the championship bracket, two teams were under review. Alabama and SMU. The committee ruled SMU to be the more superior and successful team with their number of win’s rather than taking into account Alabama’s strength of schedule (AP News). As Alabama went 9-3 this season, they suffered losses against Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Tennessee that proved to be costly.
2023 SEC Championship, Photo Credits: Los Angeles Times
Alabama fans and coaches did not go down without a fight. Several social media posts and press conferences were held and the comments made complete sense. Alabama athletic director, Greg Byrne, made a post stating that the committee’s decision was “bad for college football.” Byrne added, “Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country. We had an extremely challenging schedule and recognized there were two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have,” (AP News). His frustration is completely normal as Alabama was the only team ranked inside the top 12 of the CFP rankings that did not make it to the playoffs. This marks the third time in the playoffs existence that Alabama has not made it.
Resume Comparison between Alabama and SMU, Photo Credits: ESPN College Football
Overall, the CFP selection committee’s ruling over SMU advancing over Alabama was not well thought out. I admit that not every team is going to have a great season. That’s just life. It will not always go your way. However, this decision disrupted the peace within the college football realm and didn’t logically make sense. Comparing easy wins over a hard schedule should not have been the final factor. Alabama beat multiple ranked teams such as Georgia (2), Mizzou (21) and LSU (15). Teams that can beat significantly better teams should be the ones making the playoffs. Did SMU have some wins? Of course! Nevada, Houston Christian and Boston College are some difficult competitors I’ll tell ya! (These teams suck and Alabama should’ve made it over SMU to the playoffs). If you care to learn more about the college playoffs, selection process or want to learn more about Alabama football, check out these websites! Alabama-crimson-tide & how-college-football-playoff-works.
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