CFP Committee Chair Cites SMU Close Losses as Playoff Selection Factor over Alabama

Perhaps if Alabama had remained competitive against 6-6 Oklahoma instead of failing to score a single touchdown in a 24-3 blowout, it would be preparing for the College Football Playoff.

Instead, it is an SMU team that lost by just three points in each of its two defeats getting ready for a potential run at a championship.

To hear College Football Playoff chairman Warde Manuel tell it, the Mustangs keeping things close in their three-point losses to BYU and Clemson played a factor in their inclusion in the 12-team field over the Crimson Tide.

"With that resume, losing two games by a total of six points" stood out, Manuel said during a Monday appearance on The Rich Eisen Show (two-minute mark). "They played Clemson down to, literally, the last second."

For SMU's sake, it is a good thing it put together an impressive comeback during Saturday's ACC Championship Game.

The Tigers jumped out to a 31-14 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the Mustangs came storming back to tie it in the final minute. However, Clemson kicker Nolan Hauser drilled a 56-yard field goal as time expired to clinch the conference title and a spot in the CFP for his team.

It also helped that BYU ended up going 10-2 as a quality loss, while the Crimson Tide lost to 6-6 Vanderbilt in addition to the ugly 24-3 loss to the Sooners.

While Alabama had wins over Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri and LSU to fall back on, its three losses—two of which came against opponents it should have handled with relative ease—were too much to overcome.

And now SMU will have a chance to prove itself in a CFP showdown against Penn State while the Crimson Tide prepare for the Reliaquest Bowl against Michigan.