Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, well, I suppose that's my own fault.
Silly me for thinking the College Football Playoff committee might have more sense than the AP and Coaches Polls that mystifyingly dropped Alabama six spots for a two-point home loss to a Top 10 team.
On Tuesday, the committee followed suit, completely ignoring - again - all the big talk about strength of schedule we heard all year since Alabama was left out in favor of teams like SMU and Indiana last season that had fewer losses.
This year, the committee is ignoring SOS and quality of wins with Alabama compared against a team with the SAME number of losses. Alabama is No. 10, Notre Dame is No. 9, and none of it makes a damn bit of sense.
Why would you ever schedule anyone of quality in non-conference play? Because the committee has once again decided that who you lost to outweighs who you beat. No matter how many quality teams you beat.
Notre Dame has one win over a team currently ranked in the CFP Top 25. That win came over No. 15 USC at home.
Alabama has four such wins, beating No. 4 Georgia on the road, No. 14 Vanderbilt at home, No. 20 Tennessee at home, and No. 22 Missouri on the road.
4>1. Even in Alabama, we know that math.
All the metrics favor Alabama over Notre Dame - except for the voters who matter
The Florida State loss is like a backpack full of bricks while Alabama is running a marathon. It's a worse loss than anything Notre Dame has, but the Seminoles probably aren't as bad as their record shows. They are 31st in the Sagarin Ratings, for example.
But even ignoring that reality, Alabama has played the No. 4 strength of schedule in the country, per ESPN's power index. Notre Dame's SOS is No. 29.
Alabama's strength of record is No. 8, according to ESPN. Notre Dame is No. 12.
The resumes aren't particularly close. Once again, however, the committee has shown that what they say and what they do are two different things. They are laughing in the face of Greg Sankey, Greg Byrne, and Alabama.
Prior to tonight, I was 100% convinced that all Alabama had to do was go on the road and beat Auburn in two weeks, and it would be in the College Football Playoff. Now, I'm not so sure anymore. A potential third loss in the SEC Championship Game isn't supposed to hurt you, but I'm not convinced it wouldn't at this point.
There's no predicting what the CFP committee is going to do week-to-week. This week's rankings are just the latest example of a totally broken system that is being made up as we go along.
Alabama can only blame itself for blowing countless opportunities to beat Oklahoma. But that doesn't mean the playoff committee is above reproach for a disrespectful and disingenuous ranking of the Crimson Tide.