The 2024 College Football Playoff Selection Show is set for one week from Sunday, and with a little more than 10 days until then, there are wild debates about who the 12 most deserving teams are.
How should a potential 12-1 Boise State be compared to an 11-2 Arizona State? Who should rank higher, the Big 12 Champion or the SEC runner-up? There have been debates all season long, but things really heated up after the chaos in Week 13 left two SEC powers with their third losses of the season.
Alabama went to Norman and got hammered by a 5-5 Oklahoma team, 24-3, while Ole Miss suffered a similar fate in Gainesville, losing 24-17 to a 5-5 Florida team. At one time or another this season, Alabama and Ole Miss have been considered one of the nation’s two or three best teams.
Many people in college football circles believe teams like Alabama and Ole Miss should get into the College Football Playoff despite having three losses, while others point to their three losses and say that is plenty of reason to count them out.
Should the Crimson Tide and Rebels hypothetically beat their in-state rivals this weekend, they would finish the year at 9-3. While that might be enough for one SEC team to make the field, according to Nick Saban, it’s not good enough for either of the two teams in question.
During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Saban said that Georgia is the only SEC team that would have an argument to get into the College Football Playoff with three losses. The Bulldogs have already secured a spot in the SEC title game and will play the winner of Texas and Texas A&M. However, should they lose in that game, Saban says that they shouldn’t be penalized if that’s their third loss.
“You got some other teams that maybe, they didn’t play the same competition, but they didn’t lose games to average teams either,” Saban said on The Pat McAfee Show. “So I think that matters. And the only team that could have an argument to get in with three losses, if Georgia actually plays in the SEC championship game, they really shouldn’t be penalized. If they would happen to lose the game, they would end up with three losses.”
Here’s where the argument gets interesting: Georgia’s two losses on the season are to the aforementioned Alabama and Mississippi teams.
“Well, you know, I hate to make comparisons, but I actually think they get it closer to right in basketball because they have all these RPI things and, you know, strength of schedule, who you beat, how many good teams you beat, not necessarily how many you played, but how many you beat,” Saban said. “I think that should be a real consideration. But I do think, as we boil (it) down, it’s hard to reward a team with three losses, especially the kind of losses that Ole Miss had and like Alabama’s had to, you know, pretty (much) .500 teams, I want to call them.”
