The first weekend of the 12-team College Football Playoff should have been a celebration of more meaningful football in December. Instead, it was filled with teeth gnashing.
Indiana and SMU lost playoff games to Notre Dame and Penn State in pretty decisive fashion. The resulting narrative was the College Football Playoff committee got it wrong when it omitted SEC darling Alabama; Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss; and the hottest team in the country, the South Carolina Gamecocks.
SMU and Indiana didn’t belong, “SEC fans” said. They were frauds, said Paul Finebaum. But the committee wasn’t the problem; Oklahoma and Kentucky were.
The first weekend of the 12-team College Football Playoff should have been a celebration of more meaningful football in December. Instead, it was filled with teeth gnashing.
Indiana and SMU lost playoff games to Notre Dame and Penn State in pretty decisive fashion. The resulting narrative was the College Football Playoff committee got it wrong when it omitted SEC darling Alabama; Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss; and the hottest team in the country, the South Carolina Gamecocks.
SMU and Indiana didn’t belong, “SEC fans” said. They were frauds, said Paul Finebaum. But the committee wasn’t the problem; Oklahoma and Kentucky were.
Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina let their resumes get to the scorecards. Though they may have had some good moments in 2024, their losses were too much to overcome.
Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina each had three losses, and they expected the committee to overlook their shortcomings because they play in the SEC. In Alabama, they expected the committee to overlook the team’s 21-point loss to an Oklahoma team that finished 6-6. Kiffin and Ole Miss wanted the committee to ignore the Rebels’ loss at home to a Kentucky team that won one SEC game.
Despite their strong end to the season, South Carolina couldn’t be put in the playoff if the committee was going to leave out Alabama and Ole Miss due to the Gamecocks’ head-to-head losses to the Crimson Tide and the Rebels.
Alabama and Ole Miss each lost a pair of games to unranked opponents. Win one more game, and it’s not even a question. If Alabama beats Oklahoma or Vanderbilt, it would be in the playoff. If Ole Miss beats Kentucky or Florida, it would be in the playoff.
Leave a Reply