Alabama Football: CFP Selection Committee does not care about opponents

On Tuesday night CFP Playoff Selection Committee chair, Boo Corrigan took some heat. It wasn’t from an Alabama Football perspective. But, it should have been. More on that below.

What drew by far the most attention on Tuesday night was the committee dropping Florida State to No. 5, in favor of the Washington Huskies at No. 4. Corrigan was grilled about whether the change was because of the season-ending injury to Florida State quarterback, Jordan Travis. Corrigan steadfastly claimed it was all about Washington’s performance and had nothing to do with Travis and FSU.

Other fanbases were also unhappy with the rankings. Louisville fans cannot understand how Missouri at 9-2 is ranked higher than the Cardinals at 10-1. Their argument includes the fact that Louisville beat Miami on the road last Saturday, while Missouri struggled to beat Florida at home.

Alabama Football fans have good reason to complain

Knowing the committee values head-to-head highly, Crimson Tide fans can’t complain much about Alabama at No. 8, staying behind Texas at No. 7.

What we have good reason to be incensed about is Oregon above the Crimson Tide at No. 6. Only one argument is required and it is all about the teams the Ducks have beaten. Using the Selection Committee’s own rankings, Oregon has a remaining chance to beat one ranked team. The now 8-3, No. 16 Oregon State Beavers.

Alabama Football has beaten three ranked teams; No. 21 Tennessee, No. 13 LSU, and No. 12 Ole Miss.

The Strength of Schedule disparity between the Crimson Tide and Oregon is further illuminated by a source providing a Composite SOS Ranking. Power Rankings Guru (PRG) explains its rankings are a calculation from multiple data sources.

Among the top eight teams ranked by the Selection Committee, as calculated by PRU, Texas has the toughest SOS to date, at No. 3 in the FBS. Washington has the second-toughest at No. 21, followed by Alabama at No. 23. The other five are Ohio State at No. 51, Georgia at No. 53, Michigan at No. 63, Oregon at No. 64, and FSU at No. 66.

Based on this objective data, how Alabama SHOULD be ranked by the Selection Committee is behind Texas at either No. 6 or No. 7, depending on how the committee rates FSU without Travis. Oregon should be at best, No. 8.

If the Selection Committee does not consider the quality of wins based on the opponent, it should just say they (subjectively) believe the best four teams (or the best 25 teams) are …

In a roundabout way, Corrigan indicated that is what the committee does when he talked about Liberty being ranked No. 25.

"They (Liberty) keep winning games. The value of winning games. They score a lot of points, average a lot of yards…At the end of the day, you can only play the people that are on your schedule."

Based on that comment, winning matters most, and maybe what matters little is any team’s opponents.

The current Playoff Rankings are here.

Some college football pundits are inclined to believe the four best teams are Georgia, Alabama and Texas, with Ohio State or Michigan as the ‘maybe’ fourth, rather than Washington.