Paul Finebaum rips College Football Playoff: 'It's a terrible flaw in the system'
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum ripped the College Football Playoff for its “terrible flaw in the system,” following Tuesday night’s penultimate rankings for the CFP.
With just conference championship games remaining, viewers got a realistic look at the bracket for this season. In the first year of the 12-team playoff, it seems like most of the teams are locked in.
However, conference title games provide a caveat for those game’s losers and it could prove to be drastic for playoff rankings. It started with Alabama’s ranking over Miami, as well as SEC foes Ole Miss and South Carolina.
“It was the right call,” Finebaum said on Get Up. “And there’s a lot of flaws in the system, and there’s a lot of flaws with Miami, Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, but ultimately, Alabama’s wins over Missouri and South Carolina, on top of the win over Georgia, I think really put them in.
“This committee looked at Vanderbilt and Oklahoma and said, ‘You know what? Everybody lost, especially Miami, and I think it’s the way that Miami game ended.’ I mean, Alabama was beating Auburn, a pedestrian team that’s been going nowhere, while Mario Cristobal’s team was literally throwing up all over the field, up in Syracuse. They had a 21-0 lead, Cristobal decided not to go for a first down on 4th and 10, he kicked a meaningless field goal, he never got the ball back. And ultimately, I think that’s where it ended for the Hurricanes.”
The other part of the equation is the playoff rankings could actually kick Alabama out. It seems like the Crimson Tide will be the final team in, when it’s all said and done.
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However, if Clemson beats SMU in the ACC Championship, things could get messy. SMU looks like they are safely in the playoff and will get a bye, as long as they win the ACC.
Clemson’s only path to the bracket is to beat SMU and get one of the five guaranteed spots for the highest ranked conference champions. Since the Tigers could be out of the top 12 of the playoff rankings, they’d kick the last team out: Alabama. How? SMU might not drop all the way out.
Just far enough to push Alabama out of the playoff. That’ll be next week’s debate in that scenario.
“It’s a terrible flaw in the system, because the commissioners have been arguing and pleading, you can’t kick a team out for losing a conference (championship) game, because they’ve earned their way in,” Finebaum said. “I mean, and think about this for a second, the team that would be knocking them out, Clemson, I mean, they’re a very flawed team. They lost their rivalry game at the end of the season at home. And Greeny, you alluded to it, what about Dabo Swinney, the coach at Clemson, knocking Alabama? He’s a graduate.
“He went to school there, and a couple of months ago in Alabama, was looking for a replacement for Nick Saban. Did they call the guy that beat them twice for the national championship? Dabo Swinney never got a call.”