The CFP Committee Is Putting 9-3 Alabama in and There's Nothing You Can Do About It

Have you always wanted to see a team that lost to Vanderbilt and got pasted by 6-6 Oklahoma — with a third loss thrown in there for good measure — play for the national championship? Then boy, do I have the postseason format for you.

The College Football Playoff committee told the world last night that if SMU loses to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, the last spot in the field is going to Alabama. Some are still holding out hope that the Mustangs could remain ahead of the Crimson Tide with a close loss on Saturday, but you know that isn't going to happen. If SMU loses by two points in 5OT, you will see 11-seed Alabama in the Playoff.

And that is what it is. I've accepted that. The most fucked up part of this whole operation is that the 11-seed is going to have a pretty nice path to the semi-finals. If things held the way they are right now, Bama would open as a slight underdog at Notre Dame and then get to play either Clemson or potentially even Boise State as the 3-seed in the second round. Meanwhile, 9-seed Tennessee, which beat Alabama, would get the privilege of playing at Ohio State followed by 1-seed Oregon.

If you want to give conference champions an automatic berth into the CFP, go for it. But giving them the four byes has created a system that is horrifically flawed and is going to lead to teams wishing they'd be able to trade down several spots to get the draws that teams ranked lower than them have.

But congratulations to Alabama, who will make the Playoff having tried its absolute hardest to make sure it couldn't and will almost assuredly weasel its way into the national title game.