ANALYSIS: Nick Saban is Wrong About the Playoffs
Nick Saban appeared in an interview with Joel Klatt this week and spoke on several topics related to Alabama football.
One comment Saban made was how teams are selected for the playoffs. “All we do is take the teams that win the most games at the end of the year and put them in the playoffs,” Saban said.
The football coach remarked on how he was told that last year they would have been favored against three of the four teams. “I’m like, ‘well why aren’t we in the playoffs?’”
Sports writer Kevin Scarbinsky pushed back on these thoughts Tuesday on “Inside the Locker Room” with Wimp and Barry Sanderson.
“First of all I don’t think we want to let Vegas start picking the playoff teams,” said Scarbinsky.
He noted that Saban’s argument was “rather weak” and noted that who’s favored doesn’t necessarily mean who’s better.
“As I recall, Alabama was favored against both Tennessee and LSU last year,” said Scarbinsky, “and lost both games.” He also recalled the games with Texas and Texas A&M where the Crimson Tide was favored and barely scraped by with a win.
Scarbinsky admitted, though, that Alabama is at a level where they are “one of the best four teams in the country.” And Scarbinsky noted that if they had made it to championship game they likely would have beat TCU.
However, “If that’s the mentality we’re going to use, then the season doesn’t matter,” said Scarbinsky. He remarked again on how it was “probably the weakest argument” Saban has and that it should stop being used.
“It clearly didn’t convince the playoff committee last year,” Scarbinsky concluded. “And I don’t know that it would convince the committee this time around either.”
Listen to the full interview with Kevin Scarbinsky: