Alabama fans, current and former players ripping CFP committee as SMU gets blown out

Penn State jumped out to a 28-0 halftime lead over SMU, which included two dreadful pick-sixes by Mustangs QB Kevin Jennings, and Alabama fans along with current and former players took to social media to show their displeasure.

SMU was the last team in the College Football Playoff field, edging out Alabama thanks to a close loss in the ACC Championship Game to Clemson. The Tigers led that game by 17 points going into the fourth quarter, but SMU staged a furious rally to tie the game before Clemson hit a long field goal as time expired to win the game and allow two ACC teams to get into the playoff field.

Indiana was mostly non-competitive in Friday night's loss in South Bend to Notre Dame, exposing the Hoosiers for a weak strength of schedule. Indiana won 11 games, but those 11 wins came against eight teams that finished below .500, two 6-6 teams, and 7-5 Michigan.

The gripes were prevalent last night, too, but SMU getting blown out brought it out in full force because that was the team the committee debated against Alabama.

Alabama safety Malachi Moore had surgery this week and will miss the Tide's ReliaQuest Bowl game against Michigan. Considering he had been gutting this injury out for the majority of the year, I imagine if the Tide had played the playoff he would be playing through it.

Alabama General Manager Courtney Morgan had one word to describe the Penn State/SMU game.

Former Alabama outside linebacker Ryan Anderson wants more SEC flavor to the playoff. Any of Alabama/South Carolina/Ole Miss would have provided a much more competitive game against Penn State on Saturday.

Former Alabama RB and current media member Damien Harris was direct to the point. While I still think the Tide has only itself to blame for losing the games it did, there's zero doubt to me that Alabama is a better team than both SMU and Indiana. If we're picking the 12 best teams, every metric that matters thought Alabama was among those 12.

The rise of super conferences will lead to more and more unbalanced schedules. SMU and Indiana had great seasons and they can't help who they played. That's a fact. It's also a fact that they missed the top teams in their respective leagues and had an easy path to a double-digit win season. That shouldn't mean they're automatically worthy of the playoff.

At the end of the day, the playoff committee got what it deserved. So did the national media. They let their own Alabama fatigue cloud their judgment and in interest of "fairness" we got stuck with non-competitive first-round playoff games featuring two teams that didn't deserve to sniff it.

But maybe this leads to change and the powers that be will look harder at who you beat and not just the amount of wins you have. You shouldn't get to go to the playoff when your best win is over a 7-win team.

Everyone wants to throw the Oklahoma loss in Alabama's face and they ignore that the Sooners would have been either the second or third toughest opponent on Indiana's schedule this season.

12 teams is too many for a playoff. But if we're going to have 12 teams, it's very obvious after the first two opening-round games that the committee would like a do-over.