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Greg Byrne has been the athletic director at Alabama since 2017. In that time, Alabama teams have won 2 national championships and Byrne wants the opportunity to win another in 2024.
With Alabama currently on the outside looking in on the College Football Playoffs, Byrne took to social media to state the case for his team to be included. The AD provided 9 statistics that he feels prove the Tide deserves a spot.
“Not all schedules and conferences are created equal,” said Byrne. “We’ve worked diligently to add more challenging non-conference home-and-homes, which is good for college football, not to mention the week-in and week-out of the SEC and it being the toughest in the country.”
Byrne mentioned that Alabama is No. 2 in opponent winning percentage, No. 4 in ESPN’s FPI, No. 4 in ESPN Efficiency Ratings, No. 10 in ESPN strength of record, and No. 17 in ESPN strength of schedule. The Tide have 3 wins over teams currently ranked in the College Football Playoff rankings and have won 4 of their last 5 games overall.
Here’s a good look at the numbers/rankings for @AlabamaFTBL. Recognize there’s lots of chatter out there about 2 vs. 3 loss teams, however that is just one factor. When you look at the @CFBPlayoff Principles for its Selection Committee, the first bullet point on the list of… pic.twitter.com/EGrp7pVbaA
— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) December 3, 2024
What Byrne didn’t mention is that the Tide also have 2 losses to 6-6 teams. The Tide lost to Vanderbilt in Nashville and then got dominated by Oklahoma in Norman. The team’s other loss came to Tennessee, who finished the season 10-2.
Alabama will not be in the SEC Championship Game, so UA would have to get in as an at-large selection. The Tide will compete with Miami, Ole Miss, and South Carolina for a spot in the Playoff.
Bryce Lazenby covers college football for Saturday Down South. A Nashville native, his previous stops include FanSided, Dimers, and The Leaf-Chronicle.
