SMU’s Rhett Lashlee was busy over the weekend.
He wasn’t busy coaching the ACC championship game after the Mustangs fumbled away a chance to play for their conference crown, but was on social media giving his thoughts on the future of the College Football Playoff and the rest of the sport.
Regardless of where you might stand on the debate for the final couple of at-large bids in the CFP between Miami, Alabama and Notre Dame, the only undeniable fact as that the selection process is very subjective. Consider Lashlee tired of the selection committee.
ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit suggested expanding the playoff to 16 teams on Sunday after the bracket was revealed. Lashlee responded to Herbstreit’s quote and gave his seal of approval.
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“No committees + equal representation that’s earned not selected. Decided on the field. Then played out on the field. For the good of our game,” Lashlee wrote on his Twitter/X account.
He also replied to sports media personality Mike Golic Jr., who was shooting down the idea of expanding the playoff.
“The only reason the same thing happens every year is because it’s ‘selected’ not ‘earned’ like Pro and HS sports,” Lashlee wrote. “No one would whine about being first team left out if you failed to qualify knowing there wasn’t a committee deciding.”
The other point Lashlee emphasized was the heated debate between Miami and Notre Dame. While the Hurricanes ultimately got in over the Fighting Irish, Notre Dame was ranked ahead of Miami coming into conference championship week despite losing to Miami in Week 1. Lashlee joined the ACC’s efforts to get the Hurricanes into the playoff, especially given the fact Duke won the conference and the league’s champion wouldn’t get in.
Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Sunday he felt like he was in court, “defending a case that never should have been brought to court in the first place if we were solely looking at facts.”
Lashlee replied to a post with Cristobal’s quote as well.
“And all the reason we have to stop ‘selecting’ teams and have it earned like every major professional sport and all High School sports,” he wrote. “It’s not hard to see the best solution. Then, no one has to politic their case. We let the human element of ON FIELD RESULTS decide.”
Lashlee is not the only local coach to be critical of the College Football Playoff selection process. Texas A&M’s Mike Elko, whose team was given a No. 7 seed in the CFP, wants clarity in how things are done.
“I’ve said this all the way through this season, of what exactly is the criteria that we’re utilizing to break ties,” he said at his early signing day news conference last week. “I don’t know that anybody has a real firm understanding of what that actually is. So, for us to have a higher strength of schedule and a higher strength of record than a lot of the teams that share the same record as us, I don’t understand.
“But it would be nice if there was a little bit of clarity in into the process of what exactly happened.”
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian, whose team was left out of the playoff, changed his tune from saying it would be a “disservice” if the Longhorns were left out of the CFP.
“I guess I’m at a point now where we can agree to disagree on what the principles and the parameters are on what makes up one of the best 12 teams in the country to play in the playoff,” Sarkisian said on early signing day.
Amid all the constant debate surrounding the College Football Playoff, it’s become abundantly clear the selection committee isn’t very popular with fans and coaches alike.
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