Alabama AD suggests football team will reassess non-conference schedule after missing out on CFP
Alabama on outside looking in
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne lamented the Crimson Tide being left out of the College Football Playoff on Sunday and suggested the football program would rethink its non-conference schedule.
Byrne had pointed to the Crimson Tide’s strength of schedule during the season as to why Alabama deserved to be in the playoff as a three-loss team over someone like SMU. Byrne made the case before the bracket was revealed, but the selection committee didn’t take the bait.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe (Randy Sartin-Imagn Images/File)
It led to questions about whether strength of schedule mattered to officials who decided the bracket.
"Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country," Byrne wrote on X. "We had an extremely challenging schedule and recognize there were two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have."
"We have said that we would need to see how strength of schedule would be evaluated by the CFP. With this outcome, we will need to (assess) how many P4 non-conference games make sense in the future to put us in the best position to participate in the CFP. That is not good for college football."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alabama was ranked No. 11 in the penultimate release. But they didn’t have a conference championship to play for. If SMU had defeated Clemson, the Crimson Tide might have been the team in the tournament.
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer (John Fisher/Getty Images/File)
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College Football Playoff selection committee chair Warde Manuel explained why SMU made the field.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Your debate on television really sums up the debate in the room," he said, per Saturday Down South. "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 losses to unranked teams. And it was quite a debate. 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 talked about quite a bit."
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia celebrates the team's 40-35 win over No. 1 Alabama, Oct. 5, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
"But in the balance of it, in the way that SMU played in that game, losing on a last-second field goal, great win by Clemson, great game. We just felt like SMU, in this particular case, 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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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Alabama will play in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Michigan.
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