Alabama's AD has stated that the school plans to review its OOC scheduling strategy in the wake of the Tide being passed over for the CFP in favor SMU, which had a significantly weaker strength of schedule.
From ESPN:
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said Sunday that he would need to assess his nonconference scheduling philosophy moving forward after the Crimson Tide were the first team left out of the 12-team College Football Playoff field.
In a post on X, Byrne said he was "disappointed" with the outcome and acknowledged the losses to .500 teams Vanderbilt and Oklahoma as "two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have."
But he also added that nonconference scheduling is an area that would have to be evaluated.
"We have said that we would need to see how strength of schedule would be evaluated by the CFP," Byrne wrote. "With this outcome, we will need to asses how many P4 nonconference games make sense in the future to put us in the best position to participate in the CFP. That is not good for college football."
Alabama played only one Power 4 nonconference game this year -- a 42-10 win at Wisconsin. But next year, the Crimson Tide have two Power 4 nonconference games -- at Florida State to open the season Aug. 30, and a return home game against Wisconsin on Sept. 13.
For what it's worth, both Alabama and SMU each played only eight conference games but it might be argued, especially in hindsight, that SMU's SOS, while weaker overall because of its easier ACC slate, was tougher in terms of OOC opponents as it played games against two bowl eligible P4 teams.
- Alabama: G5 Western Kentucky (8-5), G5 USF (6-6), @P4 Wisconsin (5-7), FCS Mercer (11-2)
- SMU: G5 Nevada (3-10), FCS Houston Baptist (5-7), P4 BYU (10-2), P4 TCU (8-4)
Looking ahead, Ohio State has a home-and-away series scheduled with Alabama in 2027 (9/18 in Columbus) and 2028 (9/9 in Tuscaloosa).
Which side of the fence are you on: Should Ohio State and Alabama cancel their series and load up on weak OOCs to pad their W-L records even if it costs them SOS or should they play against the best and expect to be given credit even if they lose?
