Whether the final teams in contention for a FBS college football title are down to two (the BCS era), four (the initial College Football Playoff era from 2014-23), or 12 (the current CFP era), there’s always debate over not just who’s in and out, but how the omissions are covered. On Sunday, some of that debate focused on ESPN.com, with their initial story on the selection of SMU over Alabama for the hotly-debated final at-large spot featuring “Alabama and Miami arbitrarily left out.” Here’s how the RedditCFB account noted that on X:
Did ESPN really publish this ? 🤣 pic.twitter.com/F4zADfI5xr
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 8, 2024
AA can confirm that ESPN did publish that. Their current story on the bracket (by Andrea Adelson) doesn’t have that language, but a Google search shows that language popping up both at ESPN.com and in syndication at Philadelphia’s 6abc (WPVI). (And with missed spaces on “Miamiwere” and “SMUbreathing,” no less. What is this, a Taking Back Sunday song?)
This sparked a lot of discussion, and jokes. Here’s some of that:
Did Joey Galloway write this???
— • cooper garcia • (@coopsgarcia) December 8, 2024
They have no shame at all, ESPN knows where their money comes from
— JOSH ALLEN MVP (@eggsixles) December 8, 2024
the arbitrariness of leaving out a team that lost to Vandy
— HAVE FUN EXPECT TO WIN (@anchorofgold) December 8, 2024
— Jon Wirth (@jwbreadfan) December 8, 2024
As AA’s Michael Dixon noted, though, the denotation of “arbitrarily” does apply to any level of subjective decision (which a committee vote certainly is), though, so this is at least technically correct by the word’s denotation:
If we’re being technical, it’s correct. Anything subjective is “arbitrary.” A 2-10 Florida State team not making the CFP is arbitrary (and obvious). https://t.co/tJcTRLV79z
— Michael Dixon (@MDixonsports) December 8, 2024
But “arbitrarily” does carry a lot of connotative baggage. And it’s probably not an ideal word to have in this particular story, especially with the “ESPN is biased towards the SEC” conversations heating up again (and including head coaches as well as media members and fans). Any ESPN discussion or editorial decision there is under an exceptional microscope, even if it’s individual reporters’ or analysts’ comments rather than corporate policy. So it’s understandable why the current story these links go to (both at ESPN.com and 6abc.com) doesn’t have any particularly inflammatory language.
[RedditCFB on X]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.