Why College Football Playoff Committee Awarded SMU Spot Over Alabama

One of the premier brands in college football will not compete in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.

The Alabama Crimson Tide were the first team out of the 12-team bracket.

It was expected the final spot would come down to the 11-2 SMU Mustangs, who lost to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday night, or the 9-3 Crimson Tide.

College Football Playoff chairman Warde Manuel spoke on ESPN’s “College Football Playoff Selection Show” after the selection committee made its reveal Sunday afternoon. Manuel referenced Alabama’s edge in strength of schedule and wins against ranked teams, but also pointed out the Crimson Tide had bad losses (Vanderbilt, Oklahoma).

“We looked at the number of wins that Alabama had against ranked opponents. We looked at SMU’s schedule and they were undefeated in conference, their losses were to ranked teams,” Manuel told ESPN. “But we also looked at Alabama’s loss to unranked teams. And it was quite a debate. I mean, we value strength of schedule. That’s why Alabama as a three-loss team is ranked ahead of other teams that have two losses. It is something that we talk about quite a bit.

“But in the balance of it, in the way SMU played in that game (against Clemson), losing on the last-second field goal. Great win by Clemson, great game. We just felt that in this particular case, SMU still had the nod at 10 above Alabama. But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule. It’s merely looking at the entire body of work for both teams.”

The ironic part, as Manuel mentioned, is Alabama is ranked No. 11 in the top 25 rankings. SMU is No. 10 while Clemson, which earned an automatic bid after its ACC title, was listed as No. 16 in the top 25.

The decision to expand the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12 teams was thought to potentially eliminate some controversy. But it clearly didn’t have the impact in its debut season.