Nick Saban says CFP needs better evaluation metric: ‘Some losses are better than some wins’
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Nick Saban thinks the College Football Playoff needs to address its evaluation formula. Saban shared his thoughts during Saturday’s College GameDay from Austin, Texas, ahead of No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Texas.
Saban worries that too much of a premium is being placed on collecting wins at the expense of not scheduling regular-season matchups like Texas vs. Ohio State.
“I think what we’ve created now is a system of how many games you win helps you get into playoffs, and the playoffs become the barometer for the success of your program,” Nick Saban said Saturday on GameDay, per On3.
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“We need a better metric to actually evaluate quality wins and quality losses,” Saban added. “Some losses are better than some wins.”
Many SEC critics are surely ready to jump on Saban’s “quality losses” quote, but the former coach’s point appears to be that more is gained from scheduling Power 4 opponents.
“Like last year, Texas lost to Ohio State. Is that better than them beating Texas State?” Saban said. “I think there’s got to be some metric with the committee that evaluates those things a little better, so we get the best teams in the playoff.”
Texas is hoping to improve to 2-0 on the year and add a win over top-ranked Ohio State to its 2026 resume after taking care of Texas State in Week 1.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaign of Fred Taylor.
