Alabama, SEC Has No Room To Complain About CFB Playoff Snub
The most controversial decision by the College Football Playoff Committee in 2024 was the inclusion of the SMU Mustangs over the Alabama Crimson Tide. While the committee has been the subject of some significant, much deserved criticism, this was one rare instance where they likely made the correct choice.
Just don't tell Alabama fans or former head coaches that.
The reaction from Bama and SEC supporters has been one of outrage, anger, and indignation that their inherited birthright had been denied. After dealing, poorly, with those feelings, most prominent Bama-focused social media accounts turned to saying that the program should never schedule a difficult game again. Literally.
Except Alabama already did play a cupcake schedule, and still lost three games. And that's where these fans and accounts are missing the point: the Crimson Tide have no one to blame for their playoff fates than themselves.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Head coach Kalen DeBoer and Jalen Milroe of the Alabama Crimson Tide have a word after a first half touchdown against the Mercer Bears at Bryant-Denny Stadium on November 16, 2024 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images)
Alabama Non-Conference Scheduling Isn't What Hurt Them
In the 2024 regular season, Alabama's non-conference schedule was abysmal:
- Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
- South Florida Bulls
- FCS Mercer
- 5-7 Wisconsin Badgers
Yes, Wisconsin is normally a good program, but they certainly weren't in 2024. They won all four games easily. That's not the reason they're missing the playoffs, and in fact, had they scheduled a tougher game and won, they might actually be in the 12-team field.
Instead though, Bama lost three conference games, one to an extremely mediocre Vanderbilt Commodores team, an understandable loss to a good Tennessee team, and an abysmal road loss to Oklahoma where the Crimson Tide scored fewer points against the Sooners than the University of Maine did.
How exactly would scheduling an easier non-conference slate have helped them this year?
Alabama already benefits from the long-standing SEC tradition of only playing eight conference games, while other high-profile conferences, like the defunct Pac-12 and the current Big Ten play nine. That's a built-in scheduling benefit relative to other programs, because in some years, that ninth conference game would be Oregon or Ohio State in the Big Ten, or Tennessee or Texas in the SEC.
The debate over Bama's playoff fate in 2024 is one of the usual SEC talking points: that bad teams in the SEC are part of what makes the conference so hard, while bad teams in other conferences are actually just bad. Alabama's strength of record this year was 16th, relative to what an elite team would do against its schedule. SMU was 12th.
If you want to make the playoff, beat Vanderbilt or Oklahoma. Or actually schedule tougher games. Just stop whining about it after losing three games.