The biggest question around the playoffs this season is why 10–3 Alabama made the field despite already having four SEC teams in. Some analysts even argued Notre Dame or Kalani Sitake’s 11–2 BYU had a stronger case. But college football’s newest Hall of Famer isn’t buying it, and he believes Alabama’s playoff spot is absolutely justified.

“The precedent would have been an awful thing to set that you finished, you finished in the top two in the SEC,” Urban Meyer said on Wednesday. “You belong in the playoff. Man. I mean, I don’t know what else to say. It’s over. It’s done. You’re in the playoffs.”

Alabama finished second in what most fans and analysts still consider the toughest conference in America. The SEC practically operates like a semi-professional league, with eight or nine teams capable of making a playoff push every year, something you don’t see in the ACC or Big 12. Meyer even doubled down by lumping the Big Ten into that same upper tier:

“The same, I think, feel the same about the Big 10. Those two conferences are better than the other conferences. Does that mean that that’s going to change everything? But you finish in the top two, and those two conversation ceases. You go playing a big 10 Championship game for a ring, but do not say, Well, you know, you played that extra game. Stop it.”

For those constantly criticizing Alabama for getting picked over BYU or Notre Dame, Meyer basically tells them to try playing in the SEC and see how that goes. Basically, he’s telling Notre Dame to join a conference before talking the talk. End of the day, Alabama’s three-loss playoff bid really came down to two things:

1) brutal schedule

The committee loved how brutal Alabama’s schedule was. They had the highest-ranked strength of schedule (SOS) among all the top teams being considered for an at-large bid. It’s the classic argument that a tough loss to a great team is better than an easy win over a weak one.

2) big-time wins

Their biggest win was a crucial road victory over the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs earlier in the season, with a final score of 24–21. They finished the regular season with a 4–2 record against ranked opponents.

The committee also made it clear they weren’t going to punish teams just for making a conference title game. They evaluated Alabama’s full body of work rather than only taking the 28–7 loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship. And when they compared everything side by side, they concluded that Alabama’s 10–3 was simply stronger than Vanderbilt’s 10–2 or Notre Dame’s 10–2. This isn’t the first time Urban Meyer has spoken to a deserving team. He backed Miami over Notre Dame last week.

Urban Meyer’s warning to the CFP committee

The frustration really came down to one thing: Miami beat Notre Dame on the field, yet Notre Dame still sat ahead of them in the CFP rankings. To Miami fans, and to Urban Meyer,  that didn’t make any sense. If head-to-head is supposed to matter, how could a team you dominated stay ranked above you when playoff spots were on the line?

And that’s where history made everything feel worse. This wasn’t the first time the committee seemed a little inconsistent. In 2014, Baylor got punished despite beating TCU. In 2017, undefeated UCF never even had a chance.

Also, Back in 2023 year, Florida State went 13-0 and still got left out. Each time, the committee changed the criteria, moved the goalposts, or explained decisions in ways that didn’t fully add up. So when Miami found itself stuck behind Notre Dame last week, it felt like the same movie all over again.

Top Stories

Kansas City Reporter Erupts Against Travis Kelce for Choosing $100 Million Podcast Over Chiefs

Former Rams & Panthers Star Arrested for Burglary in Mississippi

Colin Kaepernick’s Wife Questions NFL Logic After Colts Sign 44-Year-Old QB Philip Rivers Over Kap

Kyle Busch’s Future in Limbo As Richard Childress Admits Exit Plans Amid NASCAR on Sale Rumors

Former Dallas Cowboys QB Offers to Unretire for Colts With Strong Comments on Philip Rivers

NFL Makes Decision Against Joe Burrow & Bengals With Week 16 Announcement

“I think the committee’s gotta go away,” Meyer warned. “How are they coming up with who’s going to be in the playoffs? I’m a big believer in the 442211 that was presented earlier. The committee goes away, the conferences take care of it.”

Meyer and plenty of others were worried the Hurricanes were about to get snubbed. Even though Miami had the stronger head-to-head result and also a dominating 38–7 win over Pitt, the committee didn’t reflect that in the rankings. And until they made a fair decision, the fear around Miami was simple: if the committee had already ignored logic once, they could easily do it again.