The College Football Playoff Committee had a hard decision to make. Do you leave out an undefeated ACC Champion Florida State or leave out an SEC Champion? The Committee chose the former and elected Alabama as the No. 4 seed after they beat Georgia to win the SEC Championship. Nick Saban had become an easy target for those frustrated that their team didn’t make the CFP.
“Everybody needs to understand — and my phone’s been getting blowed up from people who didn’t get in as if I’m responsible for that — look, we’ve been on the other side of this,” Saban said Thursday on the Pat McAfee Show. “We’ve been on the outside looking in.”
Nick Saban’s phone number had been leaked and the Alabama head coach has reportedly received over 250 anonymous calls. During his time on the Pat McAfee show, Saban expressed some compassion for teams that missed the CFP. Stating that missing the cut isn’t a fun place to be.
“We’ve been the team that didn’t get in,” Saban said. “We’ve been the fifth place team. So we kind of know how it feels, and I actually feel bad about it because there really are a lot of teams this year who could make an argument to say, ‘We should be there.’ And I get that.”
Nick Saban also made no apologies for stating his case that Alabama deserves to be in the CFP. When he stated that it would have been disrespectful not to have an SEC team in the Playoff.
“My responsibility and obligation is to our team, so I did the best job that I could to promote what we’ve been able to accomplish in winning 11 straight games or whatever, beating the No. 1 team in the country in Georgia,” Saban said. “We’re a different team now than we were earlier in the season. That was my obligation to our players and our team, and I’m proud of them for the way they responded to it, I’m proud of them for the way they played in the SEC Championship Game.”
As Alabama prepares for their playoff matchup against Michigan, Saban and his players are hoping to use the anonymous calls as motivation.
“I feel great for our team, our team’s worked hard,” Saban said. “I’m glad they have the opportunity to do what they have to do, play another No. 1 team in the country in the Rose Bowl. That’s a great opportunity, they worked hard for it. But I also have compassion and feel bad for the teams that have an argument to get in the playoffs that didn’t.”
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