Greg McElroy responds to push for Alabama to leap Texas in CFP rankings

For the latter part of the 2023 seasons, the Alabama Criminal Tide has been a force. However, some fans believe that Alabama is not getting the love that they deserve in the college football playoff rankings.

In the College Football Playoff rankings following the Week 12 state of action, the Crimson Tide found themselves, yet again, as the third highest ranked one-loss team behind Oregon at No. 6 and Texas at No. 7. And for those fans looking at former national championship winning quarterback Alabama turned ESPN analyst Greg McElroy to beat the drum for Alabama jumping one or both teams, they are looking in the wrong direction.

“There’s already starting to become that groundswell of support,” opened McElroy. “And I know that with where I went to school, a lot of people want my opinion on the topic. Y’all, we have to acknowledge the results. We have to acknowledge the result; it’s as simple as that.

“If the committee is to put Bama ahead of Texas, at the moment, they would be creating a very slippery slope and precedent that we don’t want college football to have. Because if you put Bama ahead of Texas, then you are basically saying that the regular season doesn’t matter. And we don’t want that. That’s not good for anybody.”

Most of the conversation around Alabama to climb in the rankings is for them to jump over Texas. As of late, the Longhorns have had their fair share of struggles, narrowly escaping a handful of upset losses. Still, even with as much love as McElroy has for his former institution, he does not want to see the Crimson Tide, who lost at home to the Longhorns, pole volt over Texas. And his reasoning is simple: ‘That’s not good for the health of the sport.’

“I’m as big a Bama fan as you’ll find. But that’s not good for anybody, that’s not good for the sport, that’s not good for the health of the sport. So that’s not going to happen. I don’t see Bama jumping Texas; I just don’t see it happening. If Texas loses to Texas Tech this week; if Texas loses in the Big 12 title game to whoever it is they play against, then yeah. Bama will, of course, jump ahead. But they can’t jump ahead right now.”

Whether fans like it or not, Alabama did lose the head-to-head matchup with Texas, getting stunned at home 34-24. While both teams have changed since then, McElroy is fully supportive of respecting the results of the past. And should the College Football Playoff committee do the unprecedented and place Alabama over Texas, it would only devalue the college football regular season in the eyes of the former Crimson Tide quarterback.