Alabama AD Greg Byrne made waves with a tweet that had a community note at one point; a tweet in which he condemned the College Football Playoff Committee for leaving the Crimson Tide out of the 12-team field.
Amidst Bryne's complaining, Kalen DeBoer was given a vote of confidence despite inheriting a four-team CFP field-caliber roster from Nick Saban, and losing to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma.
"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," Byrne said.
"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.
"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 ReliaQuest Bowl."
Robert Griffin III shared the opinion that Alabama missing the CFP was the right thing for the selection committee to have decided on. Had they made it, Griffin felt politics would've been the reason, not justice.
"There should be no favoritism towards any conference. There should be no favoritism towards the bigger brands because of money or network relationships. Let the young men play it out on the field. This year they did the CFP Selection Committee DID THE RIGHT THING leaving Alabama out, even though it would make them more money finding a way to put them in," Griffin tweeted.
"THIS IS WHAT COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS ALL ABOUT. It’s about playing the game, not politics. Let’s enjoy all these unique games and see who is the best."
Griffin, and the Auburn family both, are happy SMU made the CFP instead of Alabama.