Alabama putrid bowl game proves the College Football Playoff committee got it right

To be proven wrong, SEC fans and national commentators criticised the College Football Playoff committee for almost two weeks.

Kirk Herbstreit blasted the College Football Playoff committee for choosing SMU and Indiana for the 12-team field, but he said nothing about Tennessee losing to both of them by a greater margin in the playoffs’ opening round. According to a quote, Herbstreit “didn’t care about wins.”

The ESPN pundits Paul Finebaum and others have been as insistent that the Alabama Crimson Tide should have qualified for the playoffs over the at-large bids that were accepted before them. After all of that rhetoric, they were utterly disproved when a real game was played on the field.

At the start of the ReliaQuest Bowl, Alabama was a clear favourite against a 7-5 Michigan squad, but the Crimson Tide lost 19–13. Although some supporters are blaming transfers and bowl opt-outs for Alabama’s defeat, it is simply untrue.

Despite losing 21 players to the portal, Michigan’s Wolverines managed to play, albeit with reserves, against an Alabama offence that still had Ryan Williams and Jalen Milroe.

Alabama cannot be ignored if the ACC is to be criticised for its abysmal performance in bowl games. Additionally, you must deal with the consequences if you can’t ignore it: The field was not miscalculated by the College Football Playoff committee.

Whatever ESPN pundits want to say, Alabama demonstrated on the pitch that it didn’t belong. This rhetoric about “strength of schedule” and “who you beat” is meaningless when you lose three times, including twice to poor teams. The Crimson Tide should have been eliminated from the postseason discussion as soon as they lost their third game.

Teams should be rewarded for winning games, even if you don’t like it. Ole Miss or Alabama, for that matter, were never shown to be superior to Indiana or SMU. However, SMU and Indiana possessed something that the other two did not: Reduced losses.

Kalen DeBoer will try to assemble Alabama’s team this offseason and prepare them for a 2025 rematch. Nothing prevents the Crimson Tide from being a strong competitor in the SEC the next season, but it will require some personnel adjustments and possibly some talent acquisitions to succeed.

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