James Cook fires off College Football Playoff conspiracy theory using Nick Saban retirement

The 2023 college football season represented the final year of the four-team College Football Playoff, with the field expanding to 12 teams in the 2024 season. But the final four-team CFP selection surely came with controversy, with Florida State and Georgia missing the cut and definitely feeling like they deserved a spot in the playoff.

Both programs had a solid case to make the College Football Playoff, each boasting impressive resumes following the regular season. But former Georgia player and current Buffalo Bills running back James Cook believes that his Bulldogs missed the cut for a very interesting reason.

“We were supposed to be in there this year,” Cook said. “If Georgia was in the playoff this year, we win it all. And I think they didn’t want to see us go back-to-back. We lost one game to Alabama in the SEC Championship and hadn’t been beaten the whole season.”

“It was like the same scenario my last year in college. We won every game and lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship, but we still got in and then went and to win it all.”

Georgia won their second straight national championship in 2022, boasting a 15-0 record which they followed 12-0 record in the 2023 season before falling to Alabama in the SEC Championship game.

As Cook mentioned, the same scenario did play out in his final season in Athens in 2021, with Georgia falling to Alabama in the conference title game but still managing to make the College Football Playoff. Where they would eventually meet the Crimson Tide again in the national championship game to get their redemption.

The College Football Playoff Committee this past season felt that Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Alabama were more worthy of making the CFP over the Bulldogs. But Cook believes it could potentially have been for other reasons.

“I just feel like they knew Nick Saban was gonna retire, so they tried to sneak him in one,” Cook said.

The legendary head football coach retired on January 10 a little over a week after the Crimson Tide fell to Michigan in the CFP Semifinal at the Rose Bowl, with the unexpected announcement sending shock waves across the entire football landscape.

But Cook believes that maybe the news wasn’t as much of a surprise to some decision-makers, who wanted to see Saban potentially secure the eighth national championship of his career and further solidify his status as the greatest coach of all time.

Cook’s conspiracy theory is an intriguing one, but the kind of proposition that will likely be avoided in the future as the College Football Playoff field expands to 12 teams starting this upcoming season.

Cook is fresh off of a career year in his second NFL season, rushing for a career-high 1,122 yards for the Buffalo Bills to secure his first Pro Bowl selection. Also gaining 445 receiving yards and scoring six total touchdowns on the season.