Alabama will be watching the College Football Playoff from home this year, and the committee that left the Crimson Tide on the sidelines is now justifying that decision.
On Sunday, the College Football Playoff committee revealed the final 12-team rankings and bracket. SMU grabbed the final at-large spot, leaving Alabama as the final team out. The Crimson Tide finished 11th in the rankings, but Arizona State (12) and Clemson (16) received automatic bids, thereby jumping Alabama. SMU finished 10th in the rankings.
Alabama went 9-3 this season with losses to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma. SMU went 11-2 and lost to BYU in the regular season and fell to Clemson 34-31 in the ACC Championship Game.
When asked by ESPN about the decision to put the Mustangs in the field over the Crimson Tide, CFP chairman Warde Manuel explained the committee's reasoning.
"We looked at the number of wins that Alabama had against ranked opponents. We looked at SMU’s schedule and they were undefeated in conference, their losses were to ranked teams. But we also looked at Alabama’s loss to unranked teams. And it was quite a debate. I mean, we value strength of schedule, that’s why Alabama as a three-loss team is ranked ahead of other teams that have two losses. It is something that we talk about quite a bit.
"But in the balance of it, in the way SMU played in that game (against Clemson), losing on the last-second field goal. Great win by Clemson, great game. We just felt that in this particular case, SMU still had the nod at 10 above Alabama. But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule. It’s merely looking at the entire body of work for both teams."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as CFP Committee Explains Why SMU Beat Out Alabama for Final Spot.
