Indiana, SMU Joined CFP Despite Losses, SEC Complaint | McGonagall

The first round of the College Football Playoff should have been a cause for celebration. We had electric campus atmospheres in Happy Valley, South Bend, Austin and Columbus. And we had an expanded 12-team field, giving teams that had magical seasons, Indiana and SMU, an opportunity to compete for a chance to win the national championship.

These campus environments—the crowds, the cold weather, the tradition—were championed. But as for Indiana and SMU, they were made a mockery of. After losses to Notre Dame and Penn State, they were trolled and told they didn’t belong. And that is BS.

In the case of Paul Finebaum, it’s annoying. In the case of Kirk Herbstreit, it is surprising and unnecessary. In the case of Lane Kiffin, it’s flat out embarrassing. And for the good of the sport – and for everyone’s sanity – it would be great if they kept their rubbish to themselves.

The SEC homerism and ridiculous hypotheses have run rampant in recent weeks. But they were at their sickest this weekend after a pair of first-round CFP blowouts.

First, let’s look at the Indiana-Notre Dame game. The Hoosiers went 11-1 in the regular season. Led by a first-year head coach and a collection of Group of Five transfers, Indiana dominated nearly every team on their schedule. It didn’t have a ranked win on its resume. And against Ohio State, the Hoosiers were overwhelmed. But Indiana played on schedule and exited Big Ten play with a loss. Hoosiers deserved to be celebrated, not ridiculed. And they deserved to be in the 12-team CFP.

Losing at Notre Dame doesn’t change that, especially considering how other teams panned out in 2024. It’s not Curt Cignetti or Kurtis Rourke’s fault Alabama and Ole Miss had three losses.

And yet the SEC homies were out in full force with snark and flimsy arguments. After Indiana’s 27-17 loss to Notre Dame, an admittedly flattering final score, Kiffin turned to social media. The Ole Miss coach donned his SEC mantle and went to battle for, at least this season, a mediocre conference.

Kiffin wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after Indiana’s loss, “Really exciting rivalry game,” tagging the College Football Playoff’s official account. “Fantastic work.” Kiffin’s remark lacked any awareness whatsoever.

Whatever people may say about the talent at Alabama and Ole Miss, they didn’t earn their way into the 12-team field. Maybe they would have been in if the CFP committee made the bracket in August. But not after Ole Miss lost at home to a terrible Kentucky team that finished 4-8. Not after Alabama had a 21-point loss to a bad Oklahoma team in November and gave up 40 points in a loss to 6-6 Vanderbilt.

Kiffin would ignore that. And Herbstreit apparently did.

After not raising any red flags on the many ranking shows ESPN force feeds us, Herbstreit took issue with Indiana’s CFP inclusion Saturday morning. The normally level-headed analyst—who happens to be employed by the SEC’s media rights holder—turned into an SEC apologist.

“Indiana got outclassed in that game,” Herbstreit said. “It wasn’t a team that should have been on that field when you think about other teams that could have been there.”

Not sure what other teams Herbstreit was talking about because Alabama and Ole Miss lost to Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. We’re just going to assume the Crimson Tide and Rebels would have fared better against Notre Dame? Even if they proved in the regular season that they can lose embarrassingly to inferior teams? OK.

The SEC bias got higher as the first round continued Saturday afternoon. During Penn State’s 38-10 win over SMU, Kiffin tweeted, “Way to keep us on edge by our seating committee. … Thrilling.” Finebaum, ESPN’s SEC mouthpiece, stated, “So far, the CFP selection committee has given us some blockbusters. Take a buck.”

This is the part of the column where we recognize that blowouts occur. In fact, they happen quite often in the common fisheries policy. In the four-team CFP era, from 2014-23, the average margin of victory in the semifinals (essentially the first round) was 17.9 points.

Florida State, Michigan State, Oklahoma and Ohio State lost CFP semifinal games by 39, 38, 35 and 31 points in 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2016. These things happen. Sometimes there aren’t four — or 12 — teams capable of winning the national championship. It showed in Indiana and SMU’s losses.

But guess what? It showed up again Saturday night when Tennessee had its doors blown down at Ohio State. Thousands of Vols fans made the five-hour drive from Knoxville to Columbus, creating a great scene. But the SEC takeover didn’t happen on the field. The Buckeyes beat Tennessee 42-17. There were even Ohio State fans chanting, “SEC! SEC!” in the stands and mocked the proud conference.

Meanwhile, where was Kiffin in all of this? He wrote before the game, “Let’s go Vols!!!!” After that, not a peep. Crickets. Silence. Which was interesting. If Tennessee got blown out, the Vols certainly didn’t deserve to be in the field. That’s how this works, right?

Sarcasm aside, Tennessee belonged in the CFP. And so did Indiana and SMU.

And nothing Kiffin, Finebaum or Herbstreit said should distract you from that fact.

• BET: Check out our guide to best PA sportsbookswhere our team of sports betting experts have reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for several sportsbooks.
• Sign up for PennLive’s Penn State newsletters, daily Penn State Today and that subscriber-exclusive Penn State Insider