Joel Klatt bewildered by Alabama’s placement in CFP rankings: ‘Make it make sense’
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It’s hard to get college football fans and analysts to universally agree on anything. That said, nobody in the world disputed that the Texas Longhorns had the best two-loss resume of any team in the sport. Yet, on Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff committee disagreed.
There are plenty of things to nitpick about the CFP’s first ranking reveal. The biggest, though, is the committee’s treatment of Alabama. The Crimson Tide earned the No. 5 spot in the bracket, which left FOX commentator Joel Klatt mystified.
“Even Alabama fans are texting me ‘lol’… two spots ahead of Texas… Texas has far better wins,” an exasperated Klatt said. “How is Texas not ranked ahead of Alabama? That makes no sense… make it make sense.”
The Longhorns are the easiest squad to compare the Crimson Tide to, but another school in orange is also miffed at the separation between themselves and the team from Tuscaloosa. Tennessee beat Alabama handily in their mid-October matchup, but is at No. 13. Klatt doesn’t understand how the eight-spot difference is possible.
“[The committee said] ‘we never compared Alabama to Tennessee.’ Well why not?!” Klatt asked. “Did we not see Tennessee drill Alabama head-to-head? Tennessee’s [No.] 13… you could be 13, you could be 36. Same thing. Dead.”
Tennessee can change its fate with a home victory over Kentucky this weekend (6:15 p.m. ET, ESPN). Alabama, meanwhile, can justify its position by beating LSU in Baton Rouge (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
