Alabama Football: Are Nick Saban’s playoff complaints valid?

Alabama football head coach Nick Saban complained again about the Crimson Tide not making the College Football Playoff. 

It’s hard to listen to the complaints of Alabama football head coach Nick Saban when it comes to his team being left out of the 2022 College Football Playoff.

Saban was on a Podcast with Joel Klatt and wondered if the College Football Playoff was really choosing the best four teams. The basis for this argument was that Alabama football missed the playoff last season but would have been favored against multiple teams that did make it.

"“So but the problem with the way the whole system is, there’s no accounting for that, right,” Saban said. “So, all we do is take the teams that win the most games at the end of the year, put them in the playoffs. But do you really get the best teams? When they told me that we would be favored against three out of the four teams that got in the playoff, I’m like, why aren’t we in the playoffs?”"

For starters, if Saban was confused about why Alabama football missed the playoff — the losses to LSU and Tennessee are the reason why. If Alabama wins either of those games, the Crimson Tide probably makes the playoff without much debate.

What’s great is that Saban actually makes a perfect case for the 12-team playoff. It’s a case I’ve been making for years. One or two bad games shouldn’t count out the best team and doesn’t always.

Georgia was the best team in college football last season. The past two years actually, but if there were more undefeated teams in 2021, maybe Georgia gets left out too.

So in a sense, Nick Saban is right about the best teams not always making the playoff. However, that’s the system everyone signed up for. Unless you have a way for a 10-2 team to beat the teams in front of it and prove it’s the best, you need to live with the flaws.

Alabama football has also gotten the benefit of the doubt more than once, making the playoff before without even winning the SEC championship. So it’s a little rich for Saban to complain.

What’s better is that when the playoff expands to 12, it will lessen the complaints even more, although they will always exist.