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During his rich coaching career, Nick Saban has rarely shied away from the opportunity to express his thoughts on a college football-related topic.
During his latest appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the seven-time national championship-winning coach discussed some of the potential downsides of the new 12-team field. College Football Playoffs format.
As part of the expanded playoffs, the five highest-ranked conference champions will receive an automatic playoff bid. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be granted a first-round bye. Saban suggested the concept could lead to unintended consequences.
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Nick Saban participates in the ESPN College Gameday before the NCAA football game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania on Saturday, November 2, 2024.
“By giving the conference champions a bye, when they’re not the top-ranked teams… what it really affects is the path to the championship,” he argued.
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“And when you don’t rank teams based on the quality of the season’s total performance,” he continued. “The number one seed should, technically, have the easiest path to the championship, and that doesn’t really happen when you allow conference champions to be seeded in the top four when they’re not a top four team.”
Last week’s college football slate was marked by several upsets. Alabama lost in Oklahoma, Florida upset Ole Miss and Auburn eliminated Texas A&M. Alabama, Ole Miss and Texas A&M will all enter the final week of the regular season with three losses.
September 7, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Nick Saban leaves the field after it was renamed in his honor at Bryant-Denny Stadium during halftime of Alabama’s victory over South Florida 42-16. (Gary Cosby Jr.-USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Saban objected to three-loss teams being rewarded by qualifying for the playoffs.
“I think in summary, like right now, it’s difficult to reward a team with three defeats,” Saban said. “Especially the kind of losses that Ole Miss had and, like Alabama, .500 teams, I want to call them. Pretty average teams. You have other teams that maybe haven’t played the same competition, but they also haven’t lost games to average teams.”
Alabama head coach Nick Saban speaks during NCAA College Football Southeastern Conference media days Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
From Saban’s perspective, the Georgia Bulldogs are the only potential three-loss team that should be seriously considered in the playoffs. Georgia will enter its annual national rivalry showdown with Georgia Tech on Nov. 29 with two losses.
The Bulldogs are next scheduled to face the winner of this weekend’s Texas-Texas A&M game in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. If Georgia drops this game, Saban doesn’t think it should be eliminated from the playoffs.
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“If Georgia actually makes the SEC championship game, they really shouldn’t be penalized if they lose the game,” Saban said. “They would end up with three losses. I don’t think a team that didn’t play in the championship game and had two losses should get in there, especially if they played a good game and it wasn’t a blowout.”
Oregon remained in the top spot in the latest playoff rankings, with Ohio State, Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame rounding out the top 5.
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