Nick Saban Blasts JMU And Tulane Making The CFP, When He Should Be Destroying The ACC

So, Nick Saban is upset that James Madison and Tulane made the college football playoff this season. I'm shocked. 

I seem to remember the ACC not being able to get their champion into the CFP because they weren’t good enough in the eyes of the committee. Maybe I'm forgetting how the conference title game ended, when a 5-loss Duke team defeated Virginia in overtime, which then allowed JMU to be selected to the 12-team field.

Oh, right. That's the fault of the G-5 conferences that one of the CFP's ‘premier’ leagues could only get one team in, which then forced Notre Dame out of the picture because of the loss to Miami that magically was taken into consideration on the final weekend. 

Did we forget that the ‘Power Conference’ commissioners, along with Notre Dame, voted for this? 

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While appearing on the Pat McAfee show on Thursday, the legendary coach compared JMU or Tulane making the CFP to a Triple-A baseball team being invited to the MLB playoffs to fight for a World Series. 

"Look, would we allow the winner of the Triple-A baseball league … in the World Series playoffs? That’s the equivalent of what we do when JMU gets into the College Football Playoff and Notre Dame doesn’t," Saban said to McAfee. "I mean, I don’t want to start any shit here, but it is what it is."

Trust me, I get what Nick Saban is implying, but maybe he should be taking aim at the ACC for the selection process. The legendary coach is complaining about a team like Notre Dame being left out because of an obligation to the G-5 conferences. Ok, sure, the Oregon versus James Madison game on Saturday night doesn't look very appealing to some college football fans. 

I can respect that opinion. But again, it's not JMU's fault that they snagged the second G-5 bid, thanks to the ACC hanging on to every thread of hope that somehow Miami would get into the postseason. Nick Saban wanted to complain, but where is the argument about the Hurricanes losing on the road to SMU? 

I could easily make the argument that BYU did not deserve even a snippet of debate after they were destroyed by Texas Tech for the second time this season. I could even make the argument that Alabama did not deserve to be in the playoff, given how mediocre they were over the last month of the regular season, before getting humiliated by Georgia in the SEC championship. 

Where was Vanderbilt in his argument, or were some folks too busy arguing that Lane Kiffin should’ve been allowed to coach Ole Miss in the CFP?

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And no, I'm in no way trying to compare the SEC to a conference from the G-5. But, I will say that if we're going to debate teams, maybe Saban should have put that type of argumentative effort into arguing for Notre Dame over Alabama, giving the same type of advice that he gave Lane Kiffin to take the LSU job. 

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What he did was essentially destroy the CFP, which I think we can all agree has plenty of flaws, especially with those ‘data points’ that were embarrassingly discussed over a five-week period. 

"To me, if you’re not in the Top 15, I don’t care what league you play in, you shouldn’t be in the Playoffs," Saban continued to discuss with McAfee. "JMU, whoever it is, if you’re not in the Top 15, it doesn’t matter. Because you’re taking somebody out of the Playoffs that deserved to be in the Playoffs.

"So you can think about it one way like we’re letting someone from the Group of Five in, but you’re also taking somebody that should be in out, and that’s not fair. That’s my whole point about would we let the AAA baseball team who wins their league play for the World Series. Doesn’t happen; it’s a different league."

Sure, they are different leagues, with different levels of competition on a weekly basis. I would've hated to see Saban's reaction last season if Boise State had finished strong after being ranked in the Top 10. 

We could argue about this for weeks. But, if the ACC have had a reputable champion this past season, or the SEC hadn’t lobbied like it was a presidential election for Alabama not to be excluded because they won the ‘Iron Bowl’ in a ‘tough environment’ at Auburn, who knows where we are at. 

But stop blaming the G-5 conferences, who, if I remember correctly, have beaten their fair-share of ‘Power Conference’ teams over the past few years. 

Maybe the ACC should have had a reputable champion that was ranked in the Top 15. Right, Nick Saban? 

Who knows, maybe I'm just using talking points provided by my agency to lobby for one situation compared to the other.