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3 reasons why SMU over Alabama in 12-team CFP field is a bad move

The ink had barely begun to dry on the CFP's first 12-team bracket when the talk began: SMU in, Alabama out. To say that the selection of the final team in the CFP field was controversial would be an understatement. Alabama, aa perennial college football championship contender, was left out, while SMU, irrelevant to the college football landscape for decades, was in.

Optics aside, leaving the Tide and taking the Mustangs was just flat a bad decision. Here are the three main reasons that the choice of SMU over Alabama was frankly a major error by the CFP selection committee.


SMU over Alabama: Three reasons why CFP committee got it wrong

SMU and Rhett Lashlee made the College Football Playoff. (Photo Credit: IMAGN)
SMU and Rhett Lashlee made the College Football Playoff. (Photo Credit: IMAGN)

#1 Among conferences, the SEC should have been the primary focus

When it comes to CFP berths, the college football world was plainly ruled by two leagues - the Big Ten and the SEC.

The Big Ten sent four teams to the Playoff, with only the selection of 11-1 Indiana carrying any real controversy. The SEC sent three teams. It was never a legitimate consideration that the Big 12 might send a second team to the playoff.

That left the ACC. Yes, 10-2 SMU had a fine season. But in affording a second berth to the mediocre ACC, the committee shortchanged the SEC. In no just world would the ACC end up with nearly as many playoff teams as the SEC. The difference in the leagues was staggering.

Alabama gained conference wins over Georgia, LSU, South Carolina and Missouri. SMU's best conference victory was probably an unranked 8-4 Louisville team. There's simply no comparison.

#2 SMU's lack of big game experience will render them ill-suited for the CFP

Yes, the CFP isn't a lifetime achievement award, but the reality is that Alabama is a team used to massive games. This season, the Tide played massive national matchups with Georgia, LSU and Tennessee. Alabama is a program used to the national spotlight and the type of effort needed to carry massive games.

SMU played against two ranked teams all season, with the second being its loss to Clemson. The other was against a Pittsburgh team that ended up being 7-5. The Mustangs simply lack experience in games the magnitude of the College Football Playoff.

SMU's playoff game with Penn State will be the biggest game the Mustangs would play in 40 years, while it would have been business as usual for Alabama.

#3 This pick destroyed the nine-game SEC schedule

Aside from specific teams and specific games, the overall effect of the 12-team playoff is presumably to enhance the season. The best teams will no longer have to be afraid of taking a bad loss. They will feel free to play other teams nearer their level of play, until an extra loss makes the difference between being in and being out of the playoff.

One of the key talking points of the future of the brave new world of college football is the SEC making a move to a nine-game regular season league schedule. The conference has played an eight-game schedule of years, which tracked to the alignment of the league in two seven-team divisions. Each team played the other six division opponents and two cross-division foes.

With the expansion of the SEC, a nine-game schedule has been a natural point of discussion. Take away a weak non-conference foe from the Alabamas of the world, and saddle them with another conference opponent. But if Alabama can go 9-3 with an eight-game SEC slate and miss the playoff, there's absolutely no chance the Tide (or South Carolina or Ole Miss) willingly take on another SEC game.

No one expected the CFP committee to consider the future of SEC scheduling in deciding the final team in the 2024 playoff. But the butterfly effect suggests that picking SMU just killed the potential nine-game SEC schedule before it ever got started.


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