Texas A&M Football: Did the Aggies get robbed by playoff committee?

A lot of people thought Texas A&M football was going to make the College Football Playoff. Instead, Notre Dame got the bid. Did the Aggies get robbed?

In a move that will come as a surprise to many, the College Football Playoff committee gave Notre Dame the final playoff berth over Texas A&M football.

The Aggies finished the season with an 8-1 record and as head coach Jimbo Fisher pointed out Saturday, following a win over Tennessee, the Aggies won seven straight SEC games to close out the season. Their only loss was to Alabama, the No. 1 team.

That decision will send Notre Dame to Jerry’s World to take on Alabama in the College Football Playoff, while the other semifinal matchup will be a rematch from last year as Clemson will take on third-ranked Ohio State.

https://twitter.com/CFBPlayoff/status/1340712050906042368

For Texas A&M, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. A major bowl berth will still be on the way and the Aggies will certainly get a high-profile matchup. But after the committee talked about jumping the Aggies over Ohio State, it seemed like they had a legitimate shot at the playoff.

Then, Notre Dame was trounced by Clemson. It wasn’t a close loss in the ACC championship game, it was a demolition. The Tigers built a 34-3 lead and even the final 24-point margin was closer than the game actually felt.

So after watching Notre Dame be unable to compete against the No. 2 team in the rankings, the committee decided to match the Irish up with No. 1.

That should make for great television.

That’s not to say Texas A&M would have fared much better. The Aggies lost handily to Alabama too, but the argument used by the committee for Notre Dame was pretty weak.

Obviously, the Irish beat North Carolina and Clemson, two very good teams, but that Clemson win should be discounted because Trevor Lawrence wasn’t playing and as we saw last night, that makes a pretty big difference.

Notre Dame should still get credit for beating Clemson, which is a good win even without Lawrence and yes, that plus North Carolina are probably better than any two wins Texas A&M football has on its resume.

But the SEC is a beast of a conference and the Aggies beat some solid opponents along the way. Their third, fourth and fifth wins, even sixth, are much better than Notre Dame’s.

To be fair, the Aggies would probably lose to Alabama too, which makes me think, we either need to contract this playoff and expand it.

This year’s playoff could have three teams. And many years there are three clear teams, after that it gets murky. The best way to decide the four best teams, would be to take the top eight or even 16 and just let them determine it on the field — in an actual playoff.

What a concept.

Until then, we are stuck with the College Football Playoff committee, which just made an even worse decision than the BCS did putting Nebraska into the national title game after losing by 26 to Colorado is the regular season finale.

When it’s painfully obvious one of the teams in the playoff can’t compete with the others, then it’s probably a good bet that you got it wrong.