Nick Saban has been on the right side of the CFP discussion from the beginning and the Hall of Fame coach stayed consistent until the end.
He believed Miami should have gotten into the 12-team bracket and the Hurricanes did when the committee had no other option than to compare Miami and Notre Dame side-by-side. But he also believed that Notre Dame deserved to be in the playoffs as well. And he's right.
Miami replaced Notre Dame as the final at-large selection and James Madison made the field as a second Group of Five representative in the final College Football Playoff rankings.
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The truth is, there should never have been a discussion between the Hurricanes and the Irish other than which team got the 10th seed and which team got the 11th seed. A system where two teams ranked in the top 11 have to fight it out over one spot because, by the rules of the CFP, James Madison had to get in as the fifth-highest ranked conference champion is a system that needs to be examined.
"I think the fact of the matter is, all three of those teams (Alabama, Notre Dame and Miami) should have gotten in and deserve a right to play in the College Football Playoff,” Saban said. “For years now, we have kept tweaking the criteria of how we select teams to get into the Playoff, whether it was a two-team BCS or four-team Playoff and now a 12-team Playoff.”
Current CFP structure doesn't offer best vs. best
Why did Miami and Notre Dame play in the season opener? Because both teams wanted the best competition. As fans, we love the opportunity to watch the best vs. best. That's why 10.8 million people saw that Week 1 game, the second-biggest number for a Sunday season opener.
When we think about a 12-team college football playoff, we want to see the best vs. best. Miami deserved to be in this bracket because they are one of the 12 best teams. Notre Dame deserved to be in this bracket because they were one of the 12 best teams.
"No disrespect to the Group 5, that are ranked nowhere near as high as the other teams that are much better than them," Saban continued. "We can learn something from this that will help us to come up with a little better criteria of trying to make sure we get the 12 best teams in the playoff."
I don't mind a G5 school gaining entry and Tulane is probably as worthy as any. But bringing two G5 teams in taints the belief that the playoffs are the best on best. Miami has every right to be excited and the Hurricanes' entry into the CFP is justified, but the system that forced a choice between Miami and Notre Dame failed college football.