When the College Football Playoffs expanded from 4 to 12 teams, the idea was that the debate around seeding and who makes it would be eliminated.
That hasn’t been the case, and now, with four teams getting a bye, it’s only gotten worse.
After No. 10 Boise State (defeated No. 20 UNLV) and No. 15 Arizona State (defeated No. 16 Iowa State) both won the Mountain West and Big 12 Conference championship games, respectively, it became obvious one would get a bye and the other wouldn’t.
It’s now been a major topic of conversation among fans and analysts. During the halftime show of the SEC Championship Game, Nick Saban was asked who he’d choose between Boise and ASU.
Without missing a beat, Saban stated, “No disrespect to Boise State, but I would put Arizona State above Boise State in the CFP rankings.”
It’s a tough call, as in the regular season, Boise State’s only loss came from No. 1 Oregon, and it had no ranked wins. ASU had two ranked wins (No. 16 Kansas State and No. 14 BYU) but unranked losses to Texas Tech and Cincinnati.