Tony’s take: The College Football Playoff is America’s best reality show

Sometimes I wonder how close the College Football Playoff committee is to implementing a fan vote. I say that tongue-in-cheek, but also with a tinge of sincerity. After all, it’s been an effective method for other reality game shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. And that’s what the College Football Playoff selection show has become. 

The reason we shifted from computers to a live committee was to account for things like the “eye test” or the unavailability of key players or coaches that could affect a team’s potential throughout the postseason. It was a good idea in theory, until we forgot to account for the inevitable human error that would accompany it. 

I don’t have to tell you that the committee is far from perfect. 

It’s why Alabama was unduly penalized for its loss to Oklahoma last month and also why the Crimson Tide unexplainably moved back ahead of Notre Dame in the rankings after barely surviving a trip to a 5-7 Auburn team. 

The latter will likely guarantee Alabama a spot in the College Football Playoff, barring a blowout loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. That’s the right answer, but if this were a high school math test, the committee would be docked some points for their failure to show their work. 

Notre Dame has the right to be pissed, especially if No. 11 BYU beats No. 4 Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship Game and ends up bumping the Irish for a spot in the College Football Playoff. 

Most of the talk surrounding No. 9 Alabama concerns scenarios if it loses to No. 3 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. But things also get messy for the committee if the Tide wins. 

Surely you’d want the SEC champion to secure one of the four byes. Alabama would have two wins against a top-five Georgia team, both coming away from Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Tide’s resume would also include a win over No. 14 Vanderbilt. But would that be enough to vault the Tide five spots over one-loss teams like Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Oregon? And would Georgia then go from potentially having a bye to missing out on a home game just for losing in a conference championship?

The good thing about a live committee is that it can find the right wording to weasel out of this predicament, no matter what happens this weekend. However, there has to be a more serious way of coming up with a playoff field. Right? 

We live in a day where artificial intelligence can recreate ​​Sisqo’s 1999 hit “Thong Song” into a 1950s Motown choir cover. Surely computers have become smarter than committee chair Hunter Yurachek, who recently cracked a “6-7” joke when discussing rankings two weeks ago. 

Going back to my reality show reference from earlier, I might trust Jeff Probst or Alfonso Ribeiro to make a football decision over an Arkansas athletic director who just hired a coach who lost to UAB this year. 

Last week, Yurachek said the committee docked Alabama because the Tide “didn’t run the ball very well.” This week, his explanation of why Alabama was ranked ahead of Notre Dame was equally embarrassing. 

Despite stating that the “debate between Alabama and Notre Dame over the past three weeks has been one of the strongest debates we’ve had in the room for the past two years,” Yurachek struggled to get the facts straight on a couple of factors concerning the Tide’s resume. 

While Yurachek credited Alabama for its improved running game in the Iron Bowl, he mistakenly referenced the Tide’s “gutsy call on fourth-and-2 late in the third quarter.” 

I’m sure that was just a slip of the tongue, and Yurachek really meant to say “fourth quarter.” However, he fumbled again when discussing Alabama’s resume later in the night. 

When speaking about Alabama’s Iron Bowl win at Auburn, Yurachek mentioned how Jordan-Hare Stadium is an “extremely tough place to play for many teams this year, such as Georgia and Vanderbilt.” To Yurachek’s credit, Georgia was troubled in a 20-10 win at Auburn this season. However, Vanderbilt’s 45-38 overtime victory over the Tigers occurred in Nashville. 

Oopsy daisy. 

Part of what makes the college game so great is its imperfections. As much as we don’t want to admit it, maybe that extends to goofballs like Yurachek in the playoff committee. 

While the current selection process might not be the fairest way to determine a national champion, it’s certainly the most entertaining. So why not lean in to the chase for television ratings?   

Vote for your favorite playoff contender by texting the team’s name to 752633. Up to 25 votes per team per person. Standard text and data rates apply. 

Sadly, I’m only half kidding.