Ad Disclosure
Warde Manuel explains why SMU made CFP over Alabama despite strength-of-schedule disparity
Published:
Alabama was left out of the College Football Playoff on Sunday afternoon when the committee revealed its final rankings of the 2024 season.
Shortly after that decision was made public, CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel met with ESPN’s Rece Davis to talk about the final rankings. Manuel was asked to explain the difference between SMU and Alabama — and what ultimately gave the Mustangs the edge.
Manuel mentioned Alabama’s losses to unranked teams (Vanderbilt and Oklahoma) as a key part of the debate.
“Your debate on television really sums up the debate in the room,” Manuel said on ESPN. “We looked at the number of wins that Alabama had against ranked opponents. We looked at SMU’s schedule and they were undefeated in conference. Their losses were to ranked teams. But we also looked at Alabama’s losses to unranked teams. And it was quite a debate. We value strength of schedule. That’s why Alabama as a 3-loss team is ranked ahead of other teams that have 2 losses. It is something that we talked about quite a bit.
“But in the balance of it, in the way that SMU played in that game, losing on a last-second field goal, great win by Clemson, great game. We just felt like SMU, in this particular case, still had the nod at 10 above Alabama. But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength-of-schedule. It’s merely looking at the entire body of work for both teams.”
Alabama did have a strong strength-of-schedule advantage — 16th to 60th, per FPI — but it seems SMU’s late comeback effort in the ACC Championship Game was enough to clinch its place in the College Football Playoffs.
Alabama will now await a bowl assignment rather than have the chance to compete for a national championship this season. SMU, meanwhile, will take on Penn State in the first round of the CFP.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
