Greg McElroy fires back over assertion CFP rankings rant had Alabama motive

Nobody was more fired up about Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings than ESPN’s Greg McElroy. He discussed at length about the three highest-ranked one-loss teams — No. 6 Oregon, No. 7 Texas, and No. 9 Alabama — and their rankings. McElroy would personally move the Ducks down to No. 8 while the other two get a bump up.

Stewart Mandel of The Athletic went on to imply that McElroy is “planting the seed” of Alabama deserving to be in over Oregon if it becomes a debate topic on Selection Sunday. McElroy quickly fired back, saying all he wants from the College Football Playoff selection committee is consistency.

“Your tweet is questioning my professionalism, Stew,” McElroy said via X. “You’re better than that. I want consistency… If Ohio State is #1 because of their “Resume,’ then we should use ‘Resume’ to evaluate the other teams, as well. Therefore, Texas, should be the highest ranked 1-loss team.”

Of course, McElroy does have a tie to the Alabama program. He won the first national championship of the Nick Saban era, knocking off Texas at the Rose Bowl in Jan. 2010. McElroy still has a tight relationship with the program but is usually not afraid to be critical of the Crimson Tide.

There is a very good chance Alabama and Oregon are fighting for the final spot come Selection Sunday. And by then, the Ducks could have a significantly better resume. Matchups against USC, Arizona State, Oregon State, and a potential Pac-12 title game vs. Washington loom.

None of that includes Texas being in the mix as well. McElroy just wanted to make sure people know his potential Alabama bias is not leaking through in his professional analysis. The ESPN analyst is just mainly calling for some kind of consistency from the CFP committee.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy asks for CFP committee consistency

During the CFP rankings reveal show, McElroy was openly frustrated with how the committee was working at the moment. His thoughts were more expansive there, once again asking for consistency when it comes to the one-loss teams at the moment.

“Why are we using resume to define Ohio State as No. 1, we’re using eye test to define Georgia and Michigan as No. 2 and No. 3, we’re using resume plus eye test to find Florida State at No. 4,” McElroy said. “And we like Washington —”

“It bothers you that there’s no consistency?” Booger McFarland interjected.

“There’s no consistency,” McElroy said.