Ad Disclosure
Nick Saban weighs in on ADs canceling tough nonconference games after SMU/Alabama Playoff decision
Published:
Nick Saban has been outspoken about what is valued within the College Football Playoff rankings throughout the 2024 season, and he provided his thoughts on the committee’s final rankings Sunday.
Saban specifically keyed in on the value of strength of schedule in the sport, explaining that major college football programs may look to schedule weaker opponents in an effort to preserve a pristine overall record in the future.
“I think one of the things I’ve mentioned throughout this football season is, if we don’t take strength of schedule into consideration, is there any benefit to scheduling really good teams in the future?,” Saban said on ESPN on Sunday. “Like, here at Alabama we’re supposed to play Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Florida State in the future outside of the league. Well, those are great games for fans to see and that’s what I think we should be doing in college football, is creating more good inventory for great games that people are interested in, but do you enhance people wanting to do that?”
The Alabama legend went on to examine the perspective of an athletic director at one of these schools, specifically in the SEC, adding that canceling games may come into play.
“What’s the athletic director going to do? He may go cancel all those games now knowing that the SEC is tough enough,” Saban said. “But, at the same time, I do think that the best teams are in the Playoff which I think is most important. No coach should have any complaint about what his circumstance is relative to getting in the Playoffs or out of the Playoffs. Because they all controlled their own destiny and they had opportunities and they had some flaws and bad losses that contributed to their circumstances. So this could be a learning lesson for each and every team and every individual on those teams.”
Current Missouri student entering my third year of covering Tiger football and basketball. Contributor to The Transfer Portal CFB and overall college athletics enthusiast.
