The lesson that CFP haters must learn sooner or later

The CFP bracket is officially set, and some folks are—as always—not happy. One of these days, they need to finally get a grip.

The CFP committee has made its decision on the 2022-23 installment of its controversial 4-team bracket, with the top four being as follows (descending order): Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and Ohio State.

When considering how exactly this particular lineup came to be, the fact that complaints flooded multiple social media platforms shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. In short: TCU did not move despite losing to Kansas State, Ohio State made the bracket without playing in a conference title game, and Alabama was left as the first one out.

And just when we thought the college football world couldn’t see fans stoop any lower, we had Tide-lovers crying foul, believing that they were somehow “snubbed.”

In all seriousness, this behavior is far from new, and is actually expected on a yearly basis at this point. But nonetheless, it is unrivaled in the annoyance department. This is because of the consistent forgetting of one simple concept: the difference between being better and being more deserving.

On social media today, it’s not too difficult to find some folks saying that “Alabama would be favored against ___” or “Bama would beat ___,” and that is precisely where the ginormous flaw in their logic shines the brightest. But how?

Keeping with the topic of social media users, do you want to take a wild guess at what none of them are saying? That the whining Bama fans are wrong.

Obviously, the main target of ridicule has been TCU, as the Horned Frogs did not even remotely budge after their aforementioned fall to the 3-loss Wildcats. Throwing that on top of the fact that the Big 12 has easily been the worst Power 5 conference this season leaves TCU looking extremely underwhelming.

But while this all poses a genuine concern from a competitiveness standpoint (leaving some more haters guaranteeing that the Frogs will be thumped by Michigan), most fans don’t seem to mind, as they know that it was never solely about visible strength.

Heading into this last weekend, the requirements for Ohio State and Alabama to make the bracket were very straightforward. For the Buckeyes to make the CFP, the USC Trojans had to get dominated, and that happened. For Alabama to make it, both USC and the Frogs had to get dominated, and that didn’t happen. That’s where the story ends, regardless of how many wish it isn’t.

So yeah Bama fans, maybe the Crimson Tide could beat TCU, and maybe they could beat them badly. Who knows? But, when you compare the résumés and rankings that lead us into the conference title games, Bama never deserved (remember that word from earlier?) a moment of the committee’s time.

For what it’s worth, Alabama is now set to face Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl. If the Crimson Tide survives that one, fans can perhaps add the tiniest ounce of validity to their claims of hypothetical superiority over TCU. But I, personally, wouldn’t get too comfortable—the Wildcats did just beat a playoff team, after all.