Follow along as the College Football Playoff rankings are unveiled.
‘Tis the season for complaining.
In other words, it’s December, the teams for the 12-team College Football Playoff have been selected, and the talk about resumes and which teams you beat or lost to will be debated ad nauseam until the first round of games kicks off on Dec. 20.
The teams on this snubs list have no one to blame but themselves, and no amount of whining, no matter how good or silly the argument, will change that. But in any other year, each of them is good enough to make the playoff and possibly play for a national championship, and the snub is more of a numbers game than anything else.
So those who didn’t receive the gifts they wanted from Santa and his elves (a.k.a. Warde Manuel and the CFP selection committee) can look forward to next year – along with mass transfer portal entries, bowl game opt-outs and the usual finger-pointing at those reclining in Grapevine, Texas tasked with being objective and selecting and seeding the nation’s best football teams.
Alabama
Alabama’s snub can be summed up in two words: Norman, Oklahoma.
That was the site of the Crimson Tide’s 2024 house of horrors when they laid an absolute egg two weeks ago against a pedestrian, yet motivated, Oklahoma team. Losing to Vanderbilt earlier in the season didn’t help either, but the way Alabama was completely dominated by the Sooners had fans and pundits jumping off the bandwagon despite their resume being as strong as any of the actual playoff participants.
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Miami
There are only so many times you get a second chance, and the Hurricanes had multiple chances this season to make this point moot. Losing twice by a grand total of nine points gets no sympathy here, and the nation’s leader in total and scoring offense won’t get a chance to show that off. In this case, it isn’t who Miami lost to; it’s comparing them to other schools and picking and choosing which data point (strength of record, the strength of schedule, eye test, etc.) satisfies whatever argument is being made to whatever athletic director has a gripe.
South Carolina
It’s too bad Shane Beamer doesn’t have the gift of gab like Nick Saban because maybe, just maybe, it would do him some favors in trying to get the Gamecocks into the playoffs. Unfortunately, SEC participation trophies aren’t given out. South Carolina is as hot as any team in the nation and wouldn’t be an easy out no matter who it played.
Mississippi
Perhaps Ole Miss has the most legitimate claim to be included in the playoffs. But then again, losing to Kentucky and Florida, regardless of whether the SEC is the toughest conference or not, with a team with more talent than both of those teams combined, likely fell on deaf ears to the selection committee. Lane Kiffin knows exactly how this works and no amount of clowning the ACC was going to get them one of those coveted 12 slots.
Army
Truthfully, Army could have gone 12-0 and received zero consideration for the playoffs. However, winning championships and possibly the commander-in-chief trophy are the only consolation this season for the Black Knights. A team with a top-10 defense and a top-10 rushing offense, such as Army, could give most of the teams in the playoff issues. But being in the AAC, without a previous history as a giant killer, and losing the one game they had to have (a 35-point beatdown by Notre Dame) gives them no benefit of the doubt, no matter what AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti says.
