Greg Byrne reacts to Alabama missing College Football Playoff, calls out committee over strength of schedule

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne expressed disappointment with the College Football Playoff committee’s decision to leave the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide out of the Playoff’s first-ever 12-team field during the final CFP Top 25 rankings reveal Sunday afternoon.

So disappointed in fact, that Byrne plans to reevaluate how Alabama schedules non-conference games moving forward, even though the Tide’s three losses – at Tennessee, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt – all came against fellow SEC competition.

Despite not actually moving up or down in latest rankings, No. 11 Alabama (9-3) found itself on the outside looking in on the 12-team field as the first-team out less than a week after representing the final at-large bid in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, No. 10 SMU (11-2), which lost 34-31 to No. 16 Clemson in Saturday night’s ACC Championship Game, dropped two spots but secured the field’s final at-large bid after No. 12 Arizona State (11-2) and the Tigers locked up automatic bids as the Big 12 and ACC champions, respectively.

Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country. We had an extremely challenging schedule and recognize there were two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have.

We have said that we would need to see how…

— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) December 8, 2024

“Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country,” Byrne wrote on X/Twitter Sunday. “We had an extremely challenging schedule and recognize there were two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have. We have said that we would need to see how strength of schedule would be evaluated by the CFP. With this outcome, we will need to assess how many P4 non-conference games make sense in the future to put us in the best position to participate in the CFP. That is not good for college football.

“With that said, we do not need to hang our heads and now need to finish this season strong. We have a great group of young men who have led us with Coach DeBoer through the last year and we look forward to our opportunity in the ReliaQuest Bowl.”

Following its CFP snub, Alabama will now play the Michigan Wolverines (7-5), last season’s national champion, in the ReliaQuest Bowl at 12 noon ET, Dec. 31, from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Lane Kiffin fires back at Warde Manuel after Alabama snub

Lane Kiffin never shies away from sharing his opinion, especially when it comes to the College Football Playoff. The Ole Miss coach was a big proponent of his team’s strength of schedule and resume.

However, when it came to CFP chair Warde Manuel explaining the committee’s process and rankings for the final reveal Sunday, Kiffin was having none of it. Manuel said: “I want to make sure everybody understands that we value strength of schedule.”

That’s when Kiffin fired back and tagged Alabama and SMU in his tweet. SMU got in over Alabama as the final team into the bracket.

“Is this fake news??? he didn’t actually really say that ….,” Kiffin wrote on Twitter.