"Manipulated what their process actually is": Joel Klatt rips the committee after SMU makes it to the playoffs
Since the Selection Sunday show where SMU and 11 other teams to compete in the College Football Playoff to be crowned this season's national champions was announced, there has been discourse about which teams did and didn't make it.
On the "The Joe Klatt Show", Klatt said that the College Football Playoff committee "manipulated the process" to place the SMU Mustangs into the College Football Playoff.
"I do believe that they manipulated what their process actually is to get SMU in this playoff.
"They put them in at 11, which is one spot higher than the team that actually beat them, which also doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but that's what they gave us... I believe what the committee gave us sounds really good in theory, and you can defend it in theory, and it sounds good on social media. And in a lot of ways played to the masses."
If the committee decided against the SMU Mustangs, the Alabama Crimson Tide would have gotten that spot, as they were ranked 11th in the CFP rankings while SMU was 10th.
What does the College Football Playoff bracket featuring SMU look like?
The first round of the College Football Playoff is on Dec. 20 and 21. It will see the fifth through 12th seeds battle it out to see which team advances to the second round against a conference champion that has a bye.
The first-round games will have the 10th-seeded Indiana Hoosiers vs. seventh-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Dec. 20 as the only game on that day. Dec. 21 will kick off with the 11th-ranked SMU Mustangs taking on the sixth-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions.
The next game will see the 12th-seeded Clemson Tigers go on the road to battle against the fifth-seeded Texas Longhorns. The final game in the first round will have the ninth-seeded Tennessee Volunteers head to Ohio Stadium to play the eighth-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes.
The winner of the Clemson vs. Texas game will play the fourth-seeded Arizona State Sun Devils in the quarterfinals. The Vols vs. Buckeyes winner will head to play the Oregon Ducks.
The Mustangs vs. Nittany Lions winner will play the Mountain West Champion Boise State Broncos and the Hoosiers vs. Nittany Lions winner will head to Athens and play the SEC Champion Georgia Bulldogs.