University of Alabama’s football head coach Nick Saban recently expressed his dissatisfaction with the 2022 College Football Playoff (CFP) Committee’s decision to exclude his team from the four-team field, featuring Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and Ohio State. Saban raised questions about the methodology followed by the committee in picking the teams for the playoffs. While acknowledging that the teams that win the most games eventually get into the playoffs, Saban raised doubts about whether that methodology allowed for the best teams to compete.
Saban expressed his frustration that a team favored to beat three of the four teams, including TCU, that made the playoffs was excluded from the list. Alabama finished the 2022 season with an 11-2 record, having beaten Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl. Meanwhile, even though TCU lost to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship, it was still picked for the playoffs because it had lost only once that season in its conference championship. Ohio State’s selection was also contentious as it only had one loss, although it hadn’t appeared in its conference championship.
Saban argued that simply picking teams based on the number of games they win may not result in the best selections. He contended that there should be a better way of choosing the top teams. Moreover, Saban pointed out that Alabama’s losses were to top-ranked teams on the road and by narrow margins. In contrast, TCU was involved in an ugly but entertaining game against Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl. TCU nearly lost an 18- and 19-point lead, but it emerged victorious, with the final score reading 51-45. However, this led to TCU’s historic defeat in the National Championship against Georgia, where it lost 65-7.
In hindsight, Saban believes that Georgia was the better team, and including it in the playoffs would have been better than featuring TCU. The situation gets more interesting with Ohio State’s inclusion in the playoffs as it had only one ranked win against Penn State. Its final game of the regular season was against Michigan, which outscored the Buckeyes 28-3 in the second half to defeat them 45-23.
While the changes to the CFP to include 12 teams would alter the selection process, Saban’s questions about the current process remain valid. Although Alabama’s 2022 season doesn’t make a strong case for the team’s inclusion in the playoffs, Saban believes that his team’s performance was still better than that of TCU, who received a historic defeat in the National Championship.
