Nick Saban claims Notre Dame shouldn't have been left out of CFP, questions current format

In the end, it was Notre Dame who was left out of the College Football Playoff. This came after a significant debate had sprung up between the Irish with Miami and Alabama for the final two at-large spots.

There’s going to be plenty of debate surrounding that decision. Among those who were frustrated by it was legendary head coach Nick Saban. On the College Football Playoff Selection Show, Saban argued that Notre Dame shouldn’t have been left out, but neither should Alabama or Miami. Instead, the issue, he believes, is the format itself.

“I think the fact of the matter is all three of those teams should have gotten in,” Nick Saban said. “And deserve the right to play in the College Football Playoff. For years now, we have kept tweaking the criteria of how we select teams to be in the Playoff. Whether it’s a two-team BCS, whether it’s a four-team Playoff, and now a 12-team Playoff. But, really, I think you’re gonna have two teams in the Playoff, no disrespect to the Group of Five, that are nowhere near ranked as highly as some other teams that are much better than them, and I think that maybe something we can learn from this.”

Saban is referencing the fact that both Tulane and James Madison are in the Playoff field as conference champions. That’s because ACC Champion Duke had five losses and was unranked. Miami, meanwhile, didn’t play for the ACC Championship at all, missing out via tiebreakers. So, instead, they took up an at-large bid. Had they won the ACC, it would have opened another at-large bid for Notre Dame, and likely bumped out James Madison.

Under the current system, the top five-ranked conference champions get into the field and the rest is filled out with at-large bids based on the College Football Playoff selection committee’s rankings. However, there has been a push for things to change in recent months and years as well.

“Because to me, this has got to be devastating for Notre Dame’s team not to get an opportunity to play in the Playoff, that we can learn something from this that will help us come up with a little better criteria of trying to make sure we get the best 12 teams in the Playoff,” Saban said. “And also address this whole idea of conference championship games, and the tiebreakers that get you in the conference championship game in each conference has a significant impact on what happens in this whole thing. So, I don’t think there was a good answer for all this.”

For now, the reality for Notre Dame is that the Irish missed the Playoff. Whether the selection committee got it right or if the format is flawed will be debated in perpetuity. Maybe it is the spark that leads to more changes in the format.

“I’m happy for the teams that got in and I think the committee did a really good job. I just think there’s one team left out that I just don’t think should’ve been left out some kind of way,” Saban said. “But there’s no way around it.”