For every argument you can make for Miami, Notre Dame, Alabama, and even BYU there is a previous result that should scare all 4 at large candidates and puts anything and everything on the table.
What if a team won its conference championship game by double digits over a top 15 tm and was in the playoffs before the game, was undefeated, went 2-0 against SEC with another top 15 win and dropped out afterwards?
Now that would be wild, oh wait
Yes anything is on the table.
— Jeff or Jeffrey Fann (@TalkinACCSports) December 7, 2025
The concept seems absurd. A team wins its conference championship and drops out. The 2023 Florida State season will always be one of the biggest injustices in sports. The committee makes it up as they go. There is no consistency or transparency in what they do.
What will they do this year?
Unfortunately for BYU at 11-2 and having just lost in the conference championship game, the committee will leave them out. There isn’t a path for the Cougars to get in, even though they only have 2 losses, both to a top a 5 team. That would give them better losses than the other three. Maybe if they had been more competitive, but their two losses to Texas Tech were by a combined 49 points.
After Alabama was boat raced by Georgia 28-7 in the SEC championship game, how does the committee treat them? For the entire season, we’ve heard Alabama is not the same team as the beginning of the year when they got thumped 31-17 to a 5-7 Florida State. The same Florida State program that has 3 ACC wins in two years. Well the Alabama team that’s played the last 4 weeks looks pretty much the same to me as then. Saturday was a 28-7 got dominated start to finish loss to a Georgia team that was in a 16-9 game with the ACC’s Georgia Tech just the week before. Alabama might have peaked mid-season, but they are now the same offensively challenged team that couldn’t run the ball then and can’t now. They struggled to beat a 5-7 Auburn the week before, too.
The Notre Dame Miami debate is nonsensical. Notre Dame beat Miami. I won’t hear any other argument for 2 teams with a 10-2 record and several common opponents.
If the results of the early season matter, then it’s clear Miami and Notre Dame should be ahead of Alabama due to either better wins or more competitive OOC losses. Oh yeah, Miami beat the same FSU team that rolled Alabama.
Yes, Alabama has a win at Georgia. That was very impressive, and is the only reason Alabama is even in this discussion. Had that win been over Mississippi State, I would have ignored all discussions about Alabama’s playoff worth.
Miami is in. The real debate is between Notre Dame and Alabama, and for my money, I’d take Notre Dame by 10 points over this version of the Tide.
Will the committee have the integrity to leave out Alabama? If 2023 is any indication, then we already know the answer.
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