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Nick Saban reacts to Alabama missing out on CFP in favor of SMU, musing on strength of schedule

'If we don't take strength of schedule into consideration, is there any benefit to scheduling really good teams in the future?'

kari anderson
Contributing writer
·3 min read

In a twist, Alabama has been left out of the 2024 College Football Playoff, and Nick Saban has some thoughts on that.

The former Alabama head coach-turned-analyst spoke on ESPN on Saturday, minutes after it was announced that SMU would take the final CFP spot over the Crimson Tide. While speaking about the CFP committee's decision, Saban opined about whether Alabama's omission sets a precedent for future teams in terms of scheduling.

"If we don't take strength of schedule into consideration, is there any benefit to scheduling really good teams in the future?" Saban said. "Here at Alabama, we're supposed to play Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Florida State in the future, outside the league. Well, those are great games for fans to see, and that's what I think we should be doing in college football, is creating more good inventory for great games that people are interested in.

"What's the athletic director going to do? He may go cancel all those games now, knowing the SEC is tough enough."

Saban said he agreed with the bracket overall.

"The best teams are in the playoff, which I think is most important," Saban said. "No coach should have any complaint about what his circumstances relative to getting into the playoffs or out of the playoff, because they all control their own destiny, and they all had opportunities."

Alabama finished the season 9-3, missing out on the SEC title game after in-conference losses to Tennessee — who made the CFP as the No. 9 seed — and unranked opponents Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.

CFP committee chair Warde Manuel spoke on ESPN after the selection show, stressing that the committee took strength of schedule into account.

"We value strength of schedule, which is why Alabama with three losses is ranked ahead of the other two-loss teams," Manuel said.

The Crimson Tide finished at No. 11 in the CFP rankings, but did not make the final 12-team bracket due to Clemson (ranked No. 16 by the CFP) taking a bid by winning the ACC. SMU's 11-2 finish came after the Mustangs lost to Clemson on a last-second field goal; the team's other loss was to BYU, which ended up ranked No. 17.

By all accounts, SMU's non-conference opponents this season — Nevada, Houston Baptist, BYU and TCU — could be considered more difficult than Alabama's. The Crimson Tide played Western Kentucky, South Florida, Wisconsin and Mercer, earning easy wins in all four games.

Regardless, there seems to be a general consensus among non-Alabama fans that the committee made the right decision. Even SMU's opponents are happy for the Mustangs: ESPN's Molly McGrath reported that Clemson players and coaches cheered extra loudly for the Mustangs' selection during their CFP watch party.