Auburn basketball fans at the Neville Arena took a moment to acknowledge SMU making the College Football Playoff over Alabama during a December 8 matchup against Richmond. Per On3's Justin Hokanson, "SMU" chants filled the air following the Crimson Tide's snub.
"'SMU' chants breaking out in the Auburn student section inside Neville Arena after Alabama was left out of the playoff," Hokanson relayed.
Tiger fans further celebrated on social media when Nick Saban complained about Alabama, which he is still an employee of, not getting in with a better SOS.
"If we don't take strength of schedule into consideration, is there any benefit to scheduling really good teams in the future. Here at Alabama, we're supposed to play Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Florida State in the future outside the league. Those are great games for fans to see, and that's what I think we should be doing in college football is creating more good inventory for great games that people are interested in, but do you enhance people wanting to do that -- what's the athletic director going to do? He may go cancel all those games now, knowing the SEC is tough enough," Saban said (h/t Bama247's Mike Rodak).
It was a glorious day for Tiger fans, who don't have much to look forward to football-wise with AU not bowl-bound. Luckily, Bruce Pearl has a top-10 basketball program and Hugh Freeze has a top-10 recruiting class on its way in 2025.
Alabama's future under Kalen DeBoer isn't as bright as it had been under Nick Saban. In one season in charge, DeBoer took a four-team CFP field-caliber program and led it to missing a 12-team field.
SMU will take on Penn State in the CFP's first round. The Crimson Tide will be in the Citrus Bowl, ReliaQuest Bowl, or TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.