Perhaps the most predictable part of expanding the College Football Playoff to 12 teams was that the selection committee would come under fire for one reason or another.
That certainly held true on Sunday when Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne took to social media to criticize what he sees as flawed criteria from the committee.
“Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country,” Byrne began. “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,” Byrne continued. “With this outcome, we will need to asses 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.”
Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country. 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…
— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) December 8, 2024
Now, salty administrators making public comments about a selection committee’s process is nothing new. But Byrne’s reasoning here seems a bit flawed.
Alabama lost three games this season, all to conference foes. Their four game non-conference slate featured college football behemoths such as Mercer, Western Kentucky, and South Florida. Alabama’s lone non-conference game against a power conference team was a 42-10 trouncing versus a down Wisconsin team in September.
Byrne’s suggestion that the SEC should play more conference games makes sense. The conference currently has an eight game schedule compared to the nine conference games their Big Ten peers play. But the number of conference games wouldn’t change the fact that you still have to take care of business in your own conference, which Alabama did not do this year. And if you’re worried about strength of schedule, perhaps its time to stop playing the Mercers of the world in favor of some more power conference teams.
Hilariously, readers on X seemed to agree. Byrne’s post received a Community Note outlining the nature of Alabama’s losses and the fact that they played one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the country.
UPDATE: Mr. Byrne’s post on X has received the “Readers added context” treatment. https://t.co/2fiZLEI6mA pic.twitter.com/DNp7t9jnLC
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 8, 2024
It’s past time to put an end to these types of statements from school administrators and coaches in the wake of a snubbing. It’s weak and embarrassing. Alabama did themselves no favors this year with both an inexplicable loss to Vanderbilt on their record and an absolute beat down at the hands of Oklahoma where they failed to even score a touchdown. That’s not the selection committee’s fault.
Deflecting blame onto the selection committee for your own team’s shortcomings is a bad look. And just because Alabama was the last team out doesn’t mean there needs to be a public statement decrying the entire process. That shouldn’t be part of the AD’s job description.
You wouldn’t have had to write that statement if your team had just won.
