A 12 months in the past, ESPN and College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit was vilified by FSU followers for making the case for Alabama over an undefeated Seminoles for the ultimate 2023 College Football Playoff spot.
The vitriol he acquired has made Herbstreit understandably hesitant to make any form of comparable proclamations forward of at the moment’s College Football Playoff 12-team subject reveal on Selection Day.
Still, after some pestering from ESPN’s Mike Greenberg on Sunday NFL Countdown, Herbstreit relented, albeit solely barely, by revealing he expects the 13-member CFP choice committee to stay with ACC runner-up SMU over a three-loss Crimson Tide for the Playoff’s closing at-large bid.
“After final 12 months, I’ve discovered I’ve no opinions about something. I believe all people will get a trophy, all people will get in. I need no loss of life threats, no punishment for eight months for #FSUTwitter, so I’ve no opinion on something, I really like all people. But in the event you’re asking me what I believe will occur – not what I need, I’ve no agenda, no conspiracy theories – what I believe that they’ll most likely do is put SMU in for what you’re saying,” Herbstreit informed Greenberg early Sunday morning. “I believe a workforce that was three spots forward of Alabama, that has to go play one other recreation, one other information level, and so they lose on a last-second subject aim.”
SMU misplaced Saturday evening’s ACC Championship recreation when Clemson kicker Nolan Hauser nailed a 56-yard subject aim within the recreation’s closing second to ship the Seventeenth-ranked Tigers to the Playoff with a 34-31 win.
Meanwhile, No. 11 Alabama (9-3) sat at dwelling in Tuscaloosa after lacking out on a chance to defend its 2023 SEC title, as No. 5 Georgia beat No. 2 Texas, 22-19, in extra time to say the 2024 SEC Championship in Atlanta earlier Saturday.
“It hurts me as a result of what I believe you’re going to see is a spin the opposite route – nothing towards Bama or SMU – I believe you’re going to see ADs and coaches say, ‘Wait a second. Bama performed this schedule and so they had that report. SMU didn’t beat anyone, their greatest wins are Louisville and Duke, and so they’re going to go forward of a workforce that performed that schedule.’ That’s what you’re going to listen to on the opposite aspect,” Herbstreit mentioned. “But in the event you’re asking me what I believe the committee will do. I believe they’ll put SMU in due to the additional information level that they needed to play whereas they have been three spots forward of Alabama. So I’m guessing SMU, however I don’t know what they’ll do. Keep me out of it. I’m simply right here to name the video games and depart me out of it.”
Comparing resumes of Alabama, SMU earlier than Selection Day
It’s lastly Selection Sunday for the College Football Playoff.
So, forward of these closing rankings, ESPN broke down the resume for every of Alabama and SMU on SportsCenter, highlighting 4 key components.
Alabama
Strength of Record: ninth
Game Control: sixth
FPI: sixth
Strength of Schedule: sixteenth
SMU
Strength of Record: fifteenth
Game Control: twelfth
FPI: thirteenth
Strength of Schedule: 60
SMU, an ACC workforce, completed the season 11-2, shedding the ACC Championship Game on a last-second subject aim to Clemson. Their different loss was to a 10-win BYU workforce early within the season. Now there’s some query about if the loss to Clemson can be sufficient to drop them out of the Playoff subject.
Dan Morrison contributed to this report.
