Greg McElroy explains why he’s ‘not surprised’ to see Alabama make the CFP
By David Wasson
Published:
Former Alabama quarterback and ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy offered his opinion Sunday afternoon on why the Crimson Tide was included in the 12-team College Football Playoff despite losing 28-7 to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.
“I still didn’t think the committee watched that game and was thinking ‘This team will free-fall out of the Playoffs’, because if anything, Alabama’s metrics improved after the game against Georgia – which is mind-blowing,” McElroy said. “They lost the game convincingly, which is totally true and totally fair. But they increased their strength of schedule 6 spots … So I was not surprised to see Alabama fall in.”
McElroy went on to say that the CFP selection committee probably was cognizant of not wanting to overly penalize a potential Playoff team for losing in a conference championship.
“I don’t think the committee wants to set a precedent where they are disincentivizing participation in the championship game,” MeElroy said. “These conferences are very powerful. These conferences are very important. And if you all of a sudden, from the committee’s standpoint, are telling the SEC or the ACC or the Big Ten ‘We are really going to hold the teams accountable that lose in the conference championship game’, you are basically telling teams not to play in the conference championship game.”
Here’s video of McElroy’s full comments:
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
