Former Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Brady Quinn knocked ESPN for its role in the Alabama Crimson Tide making the 12-team 2025/2026 College Football Playoff field over his alma mater. In fact, Quinn conferred a collusion label on the network for preferring an undeserving SEC school.
Quinn claimed that the "entire process" is controlled by Disney and ESPN for rigging things in Alabama's favor. He then attacked the SEC's performance in the CFP last year, with the Georgia Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers both getting eliminated in their first game.
"This entire process is controlled by ESPN and Disney. And just to compare it to the NFL — because that’s where college football is going, it’s more of a professionalized model — what you have is an NFL that controls all of it. And they kind of say, ‘Hey, we decide who gets access on this and who doesn’t,’ it’s entirely different with college football. This is all an ESPN creation, a Disney creation, so I think that’s where they think there’s a big sense of bias," Quinn said the "Sturgotz and Company" show.
"I mean, let’s just go back before the season. [ESPN] talked about the committee changing the criteria in how they evaluate schedules, because what did we have last year in the playoff? Only three SEC teams and they all got stomped for the most part, besides Texas, that at least made its way to the semifinal round. And, by the way, barely made it there."
Alabama making CFP a product of College Football favoring big brands
As Keith Gaddie, Hoffman Chair of the American Ideal, professor of political science in the AddRan College of Liberal Arts at TCU, and author of Bragging Rites: College Football’s Disputed Titles, noted, College Football is favoring big brands, hence the selection committee's non-scientific results.
"The biggest insight is that there is always a brand-tradition bias (‘pointing to your logo’) which inherently favors blue bloods, legacy blue bloods and recent dominant programs. The sport favors its favorite," Gaddie said to a question asking, "As college athletics undergo significant change, from conference shifts to postseason restructuring, what historical patterns from disputed-title eras provide the most insight into today’s landscape?"
It's obnoxious to air a 28-7 beatdown in the SEC Championship Game and simultaneously not reward the Georgia Bulldogs by seeding them over the Ohio State Buckeyes, who lost the B1G title game, but not punish the Tide by moving them in the rankings at all.
It is what it is. As Quinn notes, what it is, is a sham.