Alabama head coach Nick Saban. Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK

Nick Saban has harsh words for CFP selection committee

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 6/20/23

In the nine seasons since the inception of the College Football Playoff, Alabama has qualified for the postseason tournament all but two times. So one would think if any coach was a fan of the CFP’s selection process it would be Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.

However, that is not the case after Saban put the CFP selection committee on blast during a recent appearance on Fox Sports’ “The Joel Klatt Show.”

“All we do is take the teams that win the most games at the end of the year, put them in the playoffs. But do you really get the best teams?” Saban asked. “When they told me that we would be favored against three out of the four teams that got in the (2022) playoff, I’m like, why aren’t we in the playoffs? Does that mean they have a better team, or does it mean that those people don’t know what they’re talking about? I really don’t know that.”

Nick Saban's still irked about not getting into the 2022 CFP, but @MikeGriffith32 is reminded of 2018 when the Tide benefitted from Georgia being left out: pic.twitter.com/ebaVZqrOI7
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) June 19, 2023

Saban’s frustration seems to stem from last season’s decision to put No. 3 TCU (12-1) and No. 4 Ohio State (11-1) in the playoff bracket over No. 5 Alabama (11-2). While the Horned Frogs beat No. 2 Michigan 51-45 in the first semifinal, they were destroyed 65-7 in the national championship against No. 1 Georgia.

Saban, apparently, believes the Crimson Tide, whose two regular-season losses come against Tennessee on the final play of the game and against LSU in overtime, would have given the Bulldogs a tougher test had they played one another in either the semifinal round of the national championship. Alabama did dismantle Kansas State 45-20 in the Sugar Bowl.

“I’m not being critical of anybody, but if you’re going to have parity, you have to have a better way of figuring out who has the best teams, not just because you lose two games on the last play of the game,” Saban added. “That knocks you out when you may be better than somebody else who didn’t have the same circumstances that they had played.”

The 2023 season is the final year the CFP format will feature four teams. The playoff field will shift to 12 teams starting in 2024.

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