Nick Saban: It would be a ‘disrespect’ to SEC if College Football Playoff had no SEC representation
The SEC championship game between Georgia and Alabama is Saturday and it has the potential to shake up the CFP rankings. Georgia winning would solidify them as the No. 1, but if Alabama wins, there’s a chance that neither team makes the playoff.
On Thursday, Nick Saban said this week that it would “be a disrespect to the SEC if there isn’t an SEC representation in the CFP.”
Saban firmly believes that if Alabama beats the No. 1 ranked team, they should be in the College Football Playoff but there’s a problem. Texas is currently a higher seed, and if they win the Big 12 championship game, both teams would be one loss conference champions with Texas having the upper hand from their head-to-head matchup. This would likely leave Alabama out, and we would witness a rare playoff featuring no SEC teams.
“I think the SEC is one of the best conferences in the country,” Saban said. “I think Georgia is one of the best teams in the country. I think they’re one of the best four teams in the country. I think if we beat them, we’d be one of the best four teams in the country.“
Georgia’s head coach Kirby Smart didn’t really care to comment on the situation.
“I want to focus on what we have to do to win this game,” Smart said.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey even weighed in on this discussion. Obviously, his opinion will be biased and should be taken with a grain of salt.
“It’s envied by everyone else,” Sankey said. “We’ve lost the semifinal once to a nonconference team, to a nonconference team twice in the championship game. The only other losses we’ve experienced are to ourselves in the national championship game.
“The entirety of our record is a basis for the assurance that we will have a team in the CFP for the 10th consecutive year.“
Saban doesn’t seem to be a fan of the head-to-head matchup consideration and thinks the entire season should be the deciding factor.
“With teams, there’s a transformation that goes through the season,” Saban said. “How are you playing now? Where is your team now? How good are you now? I think all those things come into play.“
I think there are valid arguments that can be made on both sides. Beating the No. 1 ranked team is now an easy task and is a golden star on your resume. On the other hand, if Texas and Alabama win, we cannot forget that Texas won that head-to-head matchup and putting Alabama ahead of them because of how they are playing right now might not be fair.
Regardless, it will be an exciting weekend of college football as this has been one of the more funny and exciting College Football playoff races in a while.
