Some think the College Football Playoff did the sport no justice by the 12 teams picked for the 2025/2026 field. USA Today's Blake Toppmeyer condemned the inclusion of the American champion Tulane Green Wave and Sun Belt champion James Madison Dukes in the field.
If Toppmeyer included the 12 best teams, there'd be no Group of 5 programs, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish would be the No. 8 seed, the Alabama Crimson Tide would be the No. 11 seed, and the Texas Longhorns would've snuck in at No. 12 with a 9-3 record, the latter of which would've been the first single-digit team to make the field.
While Toppmeyer's CFP criteria set was not built on the most solid foundation of logic, his idea to get biased jester executives like Mr. "6-7" himself, University of Arkansas AD, Hunter Yurachek, away from the selection committee immediately was.
"The College Football Playoff committee’s job used to be to select the four best teams for the bracket. No automatic bids, although conference championship games provided a useful data point," Toppmeyer wrote.
"Then came the 12-team playoff, and five automatic bids barged their way into the bracket. A worthy idea, but realignment and bloated conferences damaged this concept. The CFP format probably requires fine-tuning after seeing Tulane and James Madison clog the first round.
"I’m all ears for the burgeoning idea the 12-team playoff ought to be an attempt to gather the 12 best teams. No auto bids. No conferences are guaranteed a spot. And, if I might be so bold, no athletic directors involved in choosing the 12 best teams."
SEC delusion hits peak levels in 2025/2026 CFP dialogue
Truthfully, the outrage from Alabama's inclusion in the actual CFP field was undersold in the media. Everyone was busy pointing fingers at the G5 schools and the Miami Hurricanes when the Fighting Irish were excluded, but didn't look under the hood with a program that lost by two touchdowns to a 5-7 ACC program and was on its way to losing the Iron Bowl before the Auburn Tigers were hit with their own Jordan-Hare Stadium voodoo via a Cam Coleman fumble.
As for Texas, they probably have a better case to be included in the field since their play improved over the season, and their single-digit loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes at the "Shoe" in Columbus was almost akin to a tie, given how the rest of OSU's schedule fared. They also didn't get blown out the night before the CFP field was named.
That there's even a conversation about including an extra SEC team and bumping the two underdog feel good stories in the field is a damning statement on where College Football discourse is in 2025.
It feels like the current CFP brain trust wants to just max out the sliders on all the big brands and just simulate the games on EA Sports College Football 26 the way smaller programs are discussed.