Alabama AD Greg Byrne’s Message on Being Left Out of CFP Raises Eyebrows

Kristen Wong | Dec 8, 2024

Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

Sunday afternoon saw the Alabama Crimson Tide get left out of the College Football Playoff’s 12-team field in a decision that made some waves among the CFB community. 

Former Alabama coach Nick Saban gave his honest thoughts on the omission, and current Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne also shared a sobering take on social media.

In an emotional post on X (formerly Twitter), Byrne said he was “disappointed” with the committee’s decision to pass over the Crimson Tide in favor of the SMU Mustangs for the No. 11 seed.

Byrne also stated that he plans to reevaluate Alabama’s schedule in terms of playing non-conference games in the future.

“Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country,” wrote Byrne. “We had an extremely challenging schedule and recognize there were two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have.

“We have said that we would need to see how strength of schedule would be evaluated by the CFP. With this outcome, we will need to asses how many P4 non-conference 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.”

Disappointed with the outcome and felt we were one of the 12 best teams in the country. We had an extremely challenging schedule and recognize there were two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have.

We have said that we would need to see how…

— Greg Byrne (@Greg_Byrne) December 8, 2024

Bryne’s statement doesn’t come as a surprise—the politicking across the college football world was plentiful before the CFP committee’s, and it wasn’t going to suddenly stop just because the bracket was out. But college football fans immediately questioned the logic of Byrne’s complaints, specifically, what the heck does non-conference scheduling have to do with anything?

Alabama went undefeated in non-conference games, yet Byrne’s statement makes it seem like the Tide were punished unfairly by the committee by taking on a Blue Blood non-conference game and losing. That didn’t happen! All three of the Crimson Tide’s losses were to fellow SEC schools, including especially embarrassing showings against Vanderbilt and Oklahoma.

Across social media, reporters and fans alike were quick to tweak Byrne for his faulty logic.

Alabama AD suggests that the Tide will change their nonconference scheduling philosophy moving forward. I'd argue they should do the opposite -- schedule marquee nonconference games because a big win can make up for a loss to a not-great SEC team in league play. https://t.co/N4EHR6BwvU

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 8, 2024

Alabama AD says they'll assess if P4 nonconference games make sense.

I don't get this. SCar beat Clemson, Georgia beat Clemson, Texas beat Michigan, Bama beat Wisconsin, etc.

The nonconference schedules helped the SEC, like across the board. The problem was conference play. https://t.co/Ux0tB5F0de

— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) December 8, 2024

Why are they pretending this is about non-con SOS? Wisconsin, USF, WKU, Mercer is the gauntlet that kept you out of the playoff? Lmao https://t.co/6eWlYPMIYD

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 8, 2024

Byrne ended on an optimistic note, telling Bama fans that he stood behind coach Kalen DeBoer and hoped to “finish this season strong.”

“With that said, we do not need to hang our heads and now need to finish this season strong. We have a great group of young men who have led us with Coach DeBoer through the last year and we look forward to our opportunity in the @ReliaQuestBowl,” wrote Byrne.

Alabama finished with a 9-3 record in the 2024 season, going 3-1 against ranked teams.

The Crimson Tide will face Michigan in an SEC vs. Big Ten showdown in this year’s ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

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