Nick Saban uses SEC strength to campaign for Alabama in the College Football Playoff

Alabama head coach Nick Saban made his case for the Crimson Tide to make the College Football Playoff by pointing to the SEC’s strength. Saban spoke at halftime during the Big Ten Championship Game with the FOX broadcast team, sharing his message about why Alabama belonged in the CFP top-four.

A wild weekend of championship games saw USC and TCU both suffer losses, opening the door for a conversation about Alabama making the College Football Playoff after a two-loss season.

Nick Saban points to SEC strength for Alabama’s resume

Saban pleaded his case for the Crimson Tide belonging in the playoff while taking questions from the FOX halftime crew, and eventually pointed to the SEC’s dominance as a conference as proof that Alabama has the most impressive resume of the teams on the bubble.

“I don’t know exactly what you mean by the ‘eye-test,'” said Saban about whether or not the committee should trust their eyes on if Alabama was a playoff team this year. “But I think that the committee should look at how is a team playing right now relative to what the circumstances were. The entire body of work … what the competition you had to play against throughout the season [was like]. I don’t think people realize how difficult it is in the SEC. We played five road games this year, all top-25 teams. Three of those five teams were top-10 teams.

“So that’s a grueling schedule to have to play. And I know we lost two of those games on the last play of the game on the road and in tough circumstances, but I think all those things should matter. And we shouldn’t be just looking at metrics of one-loss, two-loss — and think ‘who are the best teams?'”

Following his petition to the committee, former coach Urban Meyer asked how Saban felt having to wait and see what a committee of people would decide about their season’s finishing point — something that Meyer experienced himself multiple times.

“Well, I know our guys are all hopeful that they get the opportunity to play. I know they’re gonna play against a good team … whether we get in or we don’t get in. I’m sure they’re looking forward to that because they’re great competitors. They’ve been a really good group all year and they’ve shown tremendous resiliency to overcome a lot of adversity to finish the year with three really good wins. So I think they’re handling it really well, and I really like this group and I’d love to see them get an opportunity.”