College Football Playoff changes selection metrics after Alabama snub

Published On: August 21, 2025

It looks like the SEC has been rewarded after an offseason filled with complaints about Alabama and two other three-loss teams missing the College Football Playoff.On Wednesday, the CFP declared that its 2025 season selection metrics have been modified.

A news statement from the CFP stated that games against superior opponents now have more weight due to a change in the strength of schedule criteria. Additionally, the selection committee added something else to consider.

According to the statement, the selection committee’s study now includes a record strength statistic in addition to schedule strength to evaluate a team’s performance against that schedule. This rating minimizes the penalty for losing to a top-tier club while rewarding teams that defeat them. On the other hand, these modifications will increase the penalty for losing to a team of inferior quality while offering little incentive for defeating such a team.

The announcement stated that a six-month examination of the CFP’s policies and procedures preceded the adjustments. According to the CFP, it convened a membership panel and a data analytics panel to examine the problems.

Along with altering the metrics, the CFP instituted a partial recusal for its selection committee members. Unlike complete recusal, which requires members to leave the room, half recusal prevents members from voting on any matter pertaining to the institution from which they are recused. Although they didn’t formally alter anything, the CFP membership panel also examined how teams go from the second-to-last to the final rankings when they are idle.

Ultimately, the orientation for the selecting committee was rescheduled from September to October.

Rich Clark, executive director of CFP, stated in the announcement that all of these changes will aid the selection committee in ranking the top 25 teams. I want to thank our data analytics groups and veteran selection committee members for their assistance in putting these adjustments into place. We believe they will help create a playoff bracket that honors the top teams and performances on the field throughout the regular season.

The 2024 season saw Alabama lose three games, with losses to weak teams from Vanderbilt and Oklahoma particularly hurting the team’s chances of making the playoffs. SMU, which dropped to Clemson in the ACC title game after losing once during the regular season, was chosen over UA.

Ole Miss and South Carolina also almost missed the cut. Athletics directors and SEC administrators retorted that the committee had not adequately recognized their scheduling strength.

Because of the rejection, Alabama AD Greg Byrne even alluded to altering Alabama’s future game scheduling.

After the snub, Byrne said on social media that he was disappointed with the result and believed that his squad was among the top 12 in the nation. We acknowledge that we had a really difficult schedule and that we did not play as well as we should have in two games in particular.

We have stated that we must wait to see how the CFP assesses schedule strength. In order to be in the greatest position to compete in the CFP, we will need to determine how many P4 non-conference games make sense going forward. College football would not benefit from that.

The SEC hasn’t moved from eight to nine conference games, at least not yet, in large part because of the playoff access issue. Speaking at SEC spring meetings in May, commissioner Greg Sankey stated that the league was interested in seeing how its strength of schedule would be rewarded in the future.

“The 12-team playoff selection process taught us something the first time around,” Sankey added. And that makes more in-depth research and comprehension necessary. Playing fewer winning teams can lead to more victories if we’re merely going to reward wins. It’s not good for football, in my opinion.

The CFP stated earlier in the offseason that it would be switching to straight seeding, meaning that the top four conference winners would no longer be guaranteed first-round byes.

ESPN will reveal the first CFP top 25 rankings on November 4.