Alabama and the SEC prevail once again

“This just has to go incredibly well.” — Greg Sankey, October 10, 2024.

The commissioner of the Southeastern Conference said this in a hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, with his college football colleague Tony Petitti from the Big Ten Conference sitting next to him. Athletic directors from both leagues had just met, ostensibly to discuss the myriad issues facing college athletics, but also the potential to distance itself even further from the competition. When these two get together, everyone else should be nervous.

Sankey spoke about the start of the 12-team College Football Playoff. It seemed like an implicit threat –Take care of our leagues and we will not become detached from the rest of college athletics. It should be noted that Sankey and Petitti have relinquished control from the rest of the sport’s power brokers to largely decide the format of the playoffs starting in 2027. They currently have complete power in college sports.

Two months later, lo and behold. In fact, things are going incredibly well for Sankey, his league and the Alabama Crimson Tide. As usual.

Things are going much less well for the Atlantic Coast Conference, Commissioner Jim Phillips and the Miami Hurricanes. Also as always.

“Bama is doing it again in the ACC.” Last year, the Tide went 12-1 and controversially beat the 13-0 Florida State Seminoles to finish last in the four-team CFP. This year, Alabama’s three-loss team effectively edged out Miami’s two-loss team in the second-to-last CFP rankings, securing the final spot in the 12-team field.

Not much can bring Florida State and Miami fans together, but the simmering anger at Alabama, the SEC and the CFP could be the unifying factor.

The field is not yet final and will not be until the bracket is released on Sunday. But Alabama’s positioning ahead of Miami is a done deal. CFP Selection Committee Chairman Warde Manuel said, “We are not going to adjust these teams,” referring to those that completed their regular seasons.

So that’s it. Miami is out. That doesn’t mean Alabama is in it — another ACC team, the Clemson Tigers, could emerge from outside the bracket to dislodge the Tide by winning the conference’s automatic bid against SMU on Saturday. But it means the Hurricanes no longer have a path to the playoffs.

Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich expressed his disapproval on social media Tuesday night. And Phillips also expressed himself clearly.

“We are certainly pleased that SMU has moved up in the rankings and that the committee continues to recognize the Mustangs’ incredible season, which should clearly secure them a playoff spot regardless of the outcome of this weekend,” Phillips said. “With this in mind, we are also incredibly shocked and disappointed that Miami fell six places to 12th place.

“Miami has more wins and fewer losses than the team directly in front of them and a dominant win over an SEC team whose late-season momentum includes a win over No. 13 Ole Miss. Furthermore, with two losses by a total of nine points – to a ranked Syracuse team and a Georgia Tech team that just led No. 5 Georgia in eight overtimes – Miami absolutely deserved better from the committee.”

It’s hard to feel too sorry for the 13th team in a 12-team playoff – that potential final spot amounts to a rematch between flawed teams. But it’s also hard to be comfortable with the premise of fairness and opportunity in a sport where the SEC always imposes its will. Especially when Alabama is in the game.

Look, the league has earned a lot of respect for its dominance in football over the last 18 years – 13 titles in that span speaks volumes. But respect has morphed into a hardened brand bias that sometimes extends to teams that don’t always deserve the benefit of the doubt. Much of the country suspects that SEC losses matter almost nothing in the eyes of broadcasters, voters and, especially, selection committee members. And the cynicism is getting deeper and deeper.

Under a commendable review from ESPN’s Rece Davis, Manuel explained the reasons why the Tide are ahead of the Canes.

He pointed to Alabama’s 3-1 record against the CFP Top 25 compared to Miami’s 0-1 record. Fair enough.

He pointed to Alabama’s 6-1 record against teams better than .500 compared to Miami’s 4-2. That’s a useful delineation when you’re trying to shore up the Tide, because here are the records when you drop them down to record against teams that were .500 or better: Miami is 6-2, Alabama is 6-3.

And then Manuel pointed out that the Hurricanes had lost two of their last three games. That’s a problem.

This is a comprehensive assessment of the work, not a barometer of who ends up being hot and who isn’t. Because if that’s the case, the South Carolina Gamecocks should be 9-3 over the 14th seed and out of the tournament. The Gamecocks are on a six-game winning streak, half of them against ranked opponents.

And while it’s true that Miami has lost two of its last three games, they lost to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 7-5 and Syracuse Orange 9-3. Neither was nearly as bad as the absolute idiot the Crimson Tide suffered in a three-touchdown loss to the 6-6 Oklahoma Sooners on November 23rd.

As sometimes seems to be the case, criteria that works against one team doesn’t work against ‘Bama. Teflon flood.

The first time that the committee might be overly fond of Alabama became apparent on November 19th with the third CFP rankings. The Tide defeated an FCS opponent, Mercer, three days earlier and somehow moved up three spots in the rankings, from No. 10 to No. 7. That happened to be one spot ahead of Miami, which didn’t play that weekend.

The following week, Alabama was swept by Oklahoma, falling six spots to No. 13. Miami moved up two more to No. 6. And then came this week, when the Hurricanes lost by four points to a Syracuse team that was ranked in the CFP Top 25. Alabama moved up two spots on the dubious strength of a two-touchdown home win over 5-7 Auburn.

And now they’re frozen there – Alabama before Miami. For the Zombie Tide, it was another comeback from the near-dead. Another win for the SEC, which has four teams in position to make the Big Ten’s most teams in the tournament unless Clemson can do something about it.

It’s going incredibly well. As Greg Sankey decided, it must be so.