Nick Saban Weighs In On Alabama-SMU Debate

The SMU Mustangs will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina this weekend to take on the Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship game.

The game affects more than the Tigers and the Mustangs, with the game potentially deciding the fate of the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff.

Alabama landed at No. 11 in the CFP Committee's top-25 rankings on Tuesday, giving the Crimson Tide the final at-large bid in the playoffs. SMU was ranked No. 8, while Clemson was No. 17. With a win on Saturday, Clemson could jump into the top 12 field as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions. If SMU loses, the Mustangs could remain in the playoff field, which would knock Alabama out of the College Football Playoff.

IF SMU does lose, however, the Crimson Tide has an argument based on the committee's justification of ranking Alabama ahead of Miami.

"Alabama is 3-1 against current top-25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami is 4-2," Warde Manuel said to Rece Davis on Tuesday night on ESPN.

The same argument could be made for SMU if they lose - SMU would be 0-2 against ranked opponents this season, losing to No. 18 BYU 18-15 in September, and potentially losing to Clemson on Saturday.

A Mustang loss would spark debates about who should be in the playoff field.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been in this position before, with the Crimson Tide making the playoffs in 2017 over 11-2 Big 10 champion Ohio State, and in 2023 over undefeated ACC Champion Florida State.

Saban has also been on the other side, with TCU losing its conference championship in 2022, but still getting in over the Crimson Tide, who were ranked fifth in the final playoff rankings that season.

"I do think that strength of schedule, and what teams did you beat - how many good teams did you beat - I think that speaks volumes about what kind of team you're capable of being," Saban told the Pat McAfee Show on Friday. "I think there are a lot of ups and downs in college football - probably the system has created that to some degree, because it's more difficult to be consistent - but I don't think we want to do anything in this playoff situation that is going to enhance people not to play a tough schedule."

"I think we want people to play a tough schedule. Because we want good games - people want to see good games," Saban said. "Well, you want people to play in those games. You want them to schedule some tough non-conference games. I don't think we want to enhance people who won 10 or 11 teams that didn't play one top-25 team or didn't beat one top-25 team."

SMU and Clemson will kick off in Bank of America Stadium, home of the Carolina Panthers, at 7:00 p.m. CT on ABC.

The College Football Playoff Committee will reveal their final rankings at 11:00 a.m. CT on Sunday, December 8.