Legendary coach Nick Saban highlights a potential problem with the new College Football Playoff format
During his storied coaching career, Nick Saban rarely shied away from an opportunity to express his thoughts on a college football-related topic.
During his recent appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show,” the seven-time national champion coach discussed some of the potential pitfalls of the new 12-team College Football Playoff format.
Under the extended deadline, the top five ranked conference champions will receive an automatic postseason bid. The four top-ranked conference champions will be given a first-round bye. Saban suggested that this idea may have some unintended consequences.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH ONE OF THE GAMES ON FOXNEWS.COM
Nick Saban sits on the ESPN College Gameday set before the NCAA football game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa. Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
“By giving the conference champions, when they are not the top-ranked teams, it’s a bye…which affects the road to the tournament a lot,” he said.
NICK SABAN LEAVES ANALYTICAL COMMENTS ABOUT OHIO STATE’S $20 MILLION NIL FOOTBALL ROSTER.
“And if you don’t see the teams in terms of overall season performance…” he continued. “The first seed should, technically, have an easy path to the tournament and that doesn’t really happen when you let the conference champions into the top-4 if they’re not top-four teams.”
Last week’s slate of college football games featured several upsets. Alabama lost to Oklahoma, Florida upset Ole Miss, and Auburn beat 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, USA; Nick Saban walks off the field after it was renamed in his honor at Bryant-Denny Stadium during halftime of Alabama’s 42-16 win over South Florida. (Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Network via Magn Images)
Saban has argued against teams that have lost three times and have been rewarded for reaching the play-offs.
“I think as we go through this, right now, it’s hard to reward a team with three losses,” Saban said. “Especially the kind of loss to Ole Miss and like Alabama it’s taken 500 good teams that I want to call. They’re average teams. You’ve got other teams that maybe haven’t played as well.
competition, but they didn’t lose games against mediocre teams.”
Alabama head coach Nick Saban speaks during college football’s NCAA Southeastern Conference Media Days Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
In Saban’s opinion, the Georgia Bulldogs are the only three-loss team that should be in line for serious playoff consideration. Georgia enters its annual regional rivalry matchup with Georgia Tech on Nov. 29 with two losses.
The Bulldogs are then set to play the winner of this weekend’s Texas-Texas A&M game in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. If Georgia drops that game, Saban doesn’t believe they should be eliminated from playoff contention.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
“If Georgia is playing in the SEC Championship Game, they really shouldn’t be penalized if they lose a game,” Saban said. “They would end up losing three times. I don’t think a team that hasn’t played in a championship game and lost twice should get in, especially if they played a good game and it wasn’t a mistake.”
Oregon remains at the top of the latest playoff rankings, with Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, and Notre Dame rounding out the top 5.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on Xand subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle.
