Why the CFP Committee Got It Wrong on Alabama, Notre Dame and Miami
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To get this out of the way …
I have no problem whatsoever with Miami getting into the College Football Playoff.
I believe in respecting the results. It did beat Notre Dame, and talent-wise, it can absolutely go on a four-game run and win the national title. | @PeteFiutak
I also don’t have a huge beef with Alabama getting in.
Everyone who matters conveniently memory-dumped the ugly 31-17 loss to a bad Florida State team, and the “gauntlet” of a schedule has been WAAAAAY overrated, but that goes against my point.
(By the way, Bama fans – this is nothing against your team, I’ve spent the last two years arguing that the CFP got it dead-on right in 2023, and still believe the Tide should’ve been in last year.)
But this isn’t about the teams. It’s about the process, and this is where the College Football Playoff committee messed it all up with its final rankings.
CFP committee chair Hunter Yuracek’s reasoning for the move of the swap of Alabama to 9 and Notre Dame to 10 after the penultimate rankings was, basically, “it beat Auburn, and that’s a big game.”
If the committee watched that Bama win over Auburn and came away impressed, that’s a problem. But okay, fine.
Meanwhile, the Irish destroyed the Stanford team that beat the Florida State team that beat Alabama.
Alabama at 9, Notre Dame 10, BYU 11, Miami 12. That’s what you thought last week, CFP committee – all good. Everything should have been locked down from there.
Notre Dame and Miami didn’t have games this weekend. There were no more data points to go off of for either one that weren’t already accounted for, except that Boise State – who lost to Notre Dame 28-7 in early October – won the Mountain West Championship.
Alabama got steamrolled by Georgia in the SEC Championship.
The Tide finished with -3 rushing yards in the 28-7 loss, came up with 209 yards of total offense, and it was outclassed and outplayed in every way.
Alabama was never in the game.
Earlier in the day, BYU got up 7-0 in the Big 12 Championship against Texas Tech, and that was it.
The Red Raiders scored 34 unanswered points, but to note, it was 24-7 with seven minutes to play, and Bama-Georgia was 28-7 at the same point.
Both Alabama and BYU were equally bad, but these were conference championship games.
It wasn’t fair to punish either one for losing to an elite, top four team while Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Miami, and Texas were at home sitting on the couch.
Alabama stayed at 9 in the final rankings. Again, that’s absolutely fine if the belief is that a team shouldn’t be dinged for playing that extra game.
And then it all went horribly wrong. The College Football Playoff committee changed its position when it came to BYU, and moved it down one spot.
Same deal, same awful conference championship performance, but Alabama stayed put, and BYU dropped.
In the end … Alabama 9, Miami moved up two spots to 10, Notre Dame moved down from 9 to 11 in the span of six days, and BYU 12.
When pressed on the ESPN show, Yurachek blew past it with something about how BYU was moved because it was bad on Saturday, and the performance by Alabama was fine.
That means the committee is totally inept at watching college football, or it screwed it all up at the end. Either way, it’s an awful look.
Again – and I can’t stress this enough – I think Miami could win the national title and have zero problem with the team itself being in. This would be the same argument if the Irish and Hurricane roles were reversed.
Throughout the process, the committee should’ve stated very, very clearly that it was or wasn’t going to punish teams that lost conference championships – remember, SMU was ranked way higher than Clemson in 2024 – and Bama was set at 9 and BYU at 11 if they both lost. Or, if BYU dropped, then Alabama should’ve as well.
Either way, by the College Football Playoff committee’s own process, exercise, and rankings, Notre Dame should’ve stayed two spots ahead of Miami and been in.
Related: College Football Playoff Final Rankings: Reaction to All 25 Teams
This story was originally published by College Football News on Dec 8, 2025, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add College Football News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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