The CFP selection committee got it wrong last December. Really, obnoxiously, brazenly wrong. The Alabama Crimson Tide, which was ranked No. 9 in the CFP rankings heading into the SEC Championship Game, then stayed there after a 28-7 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, didn't deserve to make it. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish did, regardless of what CFP committee chairman Hunter Yurachek tried to sell you. Unfortunately, some bought the BS.
Instead of hearing Alabama thrown under the bus over the ensuing months, everyone took aim at Group of Five champions, the Tulane Green Wave and James Madison Dukes, for making it and losing in the first round in double-digit blowouts to the Ole Miss Rebels and Oregon Ducks, respectively. Of course, Ole Miss and Oregon made the CFP semifinals, and the Tide was also blown out in the Rose Bowl, 38-3, by the Indiana Hoosiers. But that argument was buried. Because the Green Wave and Dukes came from the G5 and didn't play elite competition, they didn't deserve to make it, as many talking heads said. Alabama apparently earned its keep after finally beating the Oklahoma Sooners, who had an injured John Mateer under center. The narrative was seemingly set in stone.
Personally, that didn't sit right. Luckily, those who were aggrieved by the CFP snub told me the real story about what went down on December 7 live on ESPN's airwaves, and who truly unfairly benefited from the Fighting Irish's misfortunes.
Several legendary Notre Dame football alums and a lead NBC on-field reporter for Fighting Irish matchups on the network are not letting the prevailing narrative that Tulane and JMU unfairly made it stand. While speaking to Joe Theismann, Jerome "The Bus" Bettis, and Kathryn Tappen ahead of the 2026 American Century Championship -- where all three will be among the 90 celebrities competing in the annual golf tournament, which takes place at Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, and airs on NBC and Peacock -- I was able to get a clear consensus:
Alabama was the team that had no right to make the 2025/2026 CFP field.
"Alabama really didn't look like a team that deserved to be there."
Theismann was hung up on the Crimson Tide's three losses to the Florida State Seminoles, Sooners, and Dawgs heading into the CFP's selection Sunday. He was also hung up on the 11th-hour switcheroo that the committee pulled with his Irish with the Miami Hurricanes.
"They had three losses," Theismann told me after naming Alabama as the team that shouldn't have made it over Notre Dame. "The big thing that rubbed me the wrong way was how the decision was made. Both Miami and Notre Dame did not play the week before, but the committee moved Miami up. Why did you wait until the 11th hour to be able to make that choice?
“I mean, Alabama was a three-loss team. We saw what happened in the playoff. Alabama really didn't look like a team that deserved to be there either. So from my perspective, I think that (Tulane and James Madison), the way it was set up, earned the right to be there. I think with three losses, you don't earn the right to be there."
Theismann saw the fix being in from ESPN on-air personalities, calling out the tactics as a broadcaster in the business himself.
“They were pushing for it. I mean, you could tell through the broadcast that they were pushing for them to be there. That's the thing about broadcasting, and I spent 23 years doing it, is that you can sense, in listening to different announcers, you can sense the direction that they want things to go. It's almost like they're trying to will certain situations out there," Theismann said.
Bettis had a similar read on ESPN's handling of the CFP field, noting the selection committee's preferential treatment of Alabama after an underwhelming Iron Bowl win over the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"I think the voters knew…there was some movement that they were trying to create to make sure Alabama got in because it wasn't going to be a good outing in the SEC championship (against Georgia). They were trying to support the SEC in that. They wanted both teams to get in…because the year before, Alabama got snubbed, so they didn't want it to happen a second year. They wanted to protect the SEC and move Alabama up before the SEC championship game," Bettis told me last week.
“It happened, and you understand it. That's the business side of the game. It’s unfortunate that Notre Dame was on the receiving end of that business decision."
Bettis didn't explicitly state that the Crimson Tide didn't deserve to make it. Still, it was easy to tell that he felt the fix was in to help Alabama make the field over Notre Dame.
“It was not handled the way I thought it was going to go."
Tappen was caught off guard by the committee deciding on 12 teams that didn't include the Fighting Irish. She also agreed with me that the Crimson Tide was the team that nabbed a spot that it didn't deserve.
“It was not handled the way I thought it was going to go. I thought Notre Dame should have been in as well. And to your point, I also think Alabama should have been the team left out," Tappen said, noting that the motivation will make Notre Dame a problem in 2026. The Fighting Irish would get a guaranteed CFP spot in 2026 and every future campaign in which they finish the regular season in the top 12.
In South Bend, the conversation isn't about the American Conference and the Sun Belt stealing a spot from the mighty Notre Dame. No, it's that ESPN wanted Alabama in the field and did everything possible to make it happen.
Don't let anyone ever tell you small schools don't deserve a shot in the CFP. Not when a massive brand that's losing relevancy year after year in the NIL/rev-share era and lost three games, two by double-digits, heading into the field's selection show snuck in because of the powers that be.
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