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Nick Saban says SEC champion belongs in College Football Playoff
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Nick Saban publicly lobbied last year for Alabama to make the College Football Playoff as a 2-loss team. Saban offered an early preview Thursday of the case he will make this year if UA wins the SEC Championship Game to get to 12-1 on Selection Day.
“There should be some representation from the SEC regardless of who wins the game, absolutely,” Saban said on The Pat McAfee Show Thursday. “I think this is one of the best leagues in the country. If you’re a 1-loss team and you played through this league, I think you’re one of the best 4 teams in the country.”
Saban acknowledged that the Playoff situation is out of his team’s control. Alabama checked in at No. 8 in the penultimate CFP rankings. No team ranked lower than No. 6 heading into the conference championship games has made the final 4.
There could be more movement than usual, though, with 7 of the top 8 playing in conference championship games. Alabama is facing No. 1 Georgia. While Saban spoke of the SEC champion making the CFP “regardless of winner,” his focus was on Alabama, as UGA’s win-and-in status has long been clear.
No. 3 Washington and No. 5 Oregon are the first CFP contenders in the spotlight as the Pac-12 Championship kicks off 8 p.m. ET Friday. No. 7 Texas, which has remained in front of Alabama thanks to head-to-head, plays No. 18 Oklahoma State at noon ET Saturday in the Big 12 Championship Game.
After the SEC Championship Game, focus shifts to the Big Ten and ACC’s conference title games, both kicking off at 8 p.m. ET. No. 2 Michigan faces No. 16 Iowa in Indianapolis. In Charlotte, No. 4 Florida State takes on No. 14 Louisville.
“I absolutely think there should be some representation from the SEC in the CFP regardless of who wins this game..
I don’t pay a lot of attention to it because we can’t control it & I don’t want our players to pay attention to it either” ~ Coach Saban #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/gnhw1mnmHL
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 30, 2023
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
