Ever since the College Football Playoff bracket was revealed, there's been a massive debate taking place in College Football. The biggest argument was over Notre Dame and Miami, but it's quickly turned into everyone from Joel Klatt to Nick Saban bashing the Group of 5 teams for taking up two bids.
The overwhelming sentiment has been that the Group of 5 teams don't belong in the field as they'll get blown out. Nick Saban appeared on The Pat McAfee show where he equated it to a AAA team competing for the World Series.
"Would we allow the winner of the Triple-A baseball league, the International League, whatever they call it, would you let them in the World Series playoff? That’s the equivalent of what we do when JMU gets into the College Football Playoff and Notre Dame doesn’t."Nick Saban
Everyone bashing the Group of 5 teams is clearly missing the point, and it's laughable that they're continuing to make the argument. If potentially getting blown out in a big game was part of the consideration, what we've seen unfold in prior seasons would keep teams out of the field.
Past results show that Nick Saban's comments are foolish
The precedent for blowouts in the College Football Playoff was set in the first game under the 4-team format when Oregon blew Florida State out 59-20. Maybe that's the reason that Mike Norvell's undefeated team was kept out of the field.
If potentially getting blown out in the College Football Playoff should keep teams out than Ohio State would've been out of consideration since 2016 when they lost 31-0 to Clemson or when they lost 52-24 to Alabama in Nick Saban's final National Championship win.
Nick Saban's teams did massive damage to several other programs who we shouldn't consider for the Playoff ever again because of the losses. Alabama demolished Michigan State in 2015 beating the Spartans 38-0 which means they should never receive consideration again.
Maybe Nick Saban shouldn't have reached the College Football Playoff ever again after his team was blown out by Clemson in the 2019 National Championship Game losing 44-16/
Texas Tech is the 4th ranked team in the Country earning a first round bye, but maybe we shouldn't allow the Big 12 in the Playoff at all considering Georgia blew TCU out 65-7 in a National Championship Game.
Oklahoma is in the field this season taking on Nick Saban's former school, but it may be wise to pull them out of the field in favor of Notre Dame after they lost 63-28 to Joe Burrow and LSU.
Blowouts in the College Football Playoff have become a yearly tradition regardless of which format we've played under. Every team has the same chance at making the College Football Playoff, and just because this season two Group of 5 teams made the Playoff doesn't mean they shouldn't be considered again.
Blaming the schools that made the Playoff is misguided when everyone should take aim at Notre Dame, the ACC, and the system itself. Notre Dame could easily join a league like the ACC and considering that a 5-loss team won the league they could probably win the league. The ACC allowed a 5-loss team to win the league which kept Notre Dame out of the field. The conference commissioners voted on this format, so don't blame the teams that made it blame the system.