Nick Saban shares reaction to final College Football Playoff bracket
By David Wasson
Published:
Legendary college football coach Nick Saban sounded off on the inclusion of Group of 5 teams James Madison and Tulane into the 2025 College Football Playoff at the expense of 10-2 independent Notre Dame.
“I think the fact of the matter is, all 3 of those teams should have gotten in and deserve the right to play in the College Football Playoff,” Saban said during ESPN’s College Football Playoff selection show. “You’re going to have 2 teams in the Playoff, no disrespect to the Group of 5, that are nowhere near as highly ranked.”
The Dukes (12-1) won the Sun Belt Conference title by downing Troy 31-14 on Saturday. The Green Wave (11-2) captured the American Conference crown by outlasting North Texas 34-21. The CFP selection committee had to include the 5 highest conference champions as automatic bids, and both James Madison and Tulane finished ranked higher than did 5-loss Duke – which won the ACC title by upsetting Virginia 27-20 in overtime Saturday.
“You have 10 teams that are getting evaluated on one set of criteria in this year’s polling, and you have 2 teams getting into the playoffs being evaluated on a whole different set of criteria,” Saban continued. “In some kind of way, we have to bring those to balance – that we shouldn’t be evaluating teams with a different set of criteria.”
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. He also hosts Gulfshore Sports with David Wasson, weekdays from 3-5 pm across Southwest Florida and on FoxSportsFM.com. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
