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Paul Finebaum sounds off on committee’s SMU decision, ‘flawed’ seeding structure of CFP
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Paul Finebaum always has thoughts when it comes to college football, and that was certainly the case after the first 12-team College Football Playoff bracket was unveiled Sunday.
Finebaum delved into the decision to place SMU over Alabama as the No. 11 seed while explaining that it was a difficult choice for the committee to make when it comes to how choosing either team would impact the overall makeup of the sport.
“I think it was an either/or decision and they chose the path of least resistance. Had they gone with Alabama, they would have backed up what Warde Manuel told you Tuesday night. But if they left SMU out they would have created chaos in college athletics. Meaning these conference championship games… how much money they bring and pride would have just been shot to smithereens,” Finebaum said. “Being people that represent college athletics, they sat in that room, they probably overreacted to that SMU comeback and then the field goal and said you know what, we can take a little heat on Monday, but we won’t undo the actual structure of college athletics, especially how football works.”
The analyst also discussed the seeding structures, labeling it as “flawed” although he believes it will be tinkered with over the offseason. Oregon, though earning the No. 1 overall seed, arguably has the toughest path to a title while Texas and Penn State were bumped from a first-round bye in spite of being top-4 teams per the final rankings.
For now, Finebaum is simply happy to have 12 teams in the Playoff, but he is not the only one thinking the idea of automatic byes for conference champions is a bad idea.
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“We could have seen this the day the bracket came out a year ago that we knew what was going to happen. It’s a flawed system but we need to remember, everyone had to compromise, everyone had to give something so we could get this thing off the ground,” Finebaum said. “It’s not the best system but I’m thrilled we have a 12-team system, and I hope and I’m pretty sure they’ll go in there and tweak it immediately.”
Current Missouri student entering my third year of covering Tiger football and basketball. Contributor to The Transfer Portal CFB and overall college athletics enthusiast.
