C-SPAN’s coverage of Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday was briefly derailed by a caller who believed the College Football Playoff committee wronged the Alabama Crimson Tide.
“I’m a bit more disappointed in the selection committee for not picking Alabama for the College Football Playoff finals,” the caller said. “Accepting inferior teams like SMU and Indiana … truly dark times in America.”
The caller was quickly cut off.
The CFP national championship between Notre Dame and Ohio State takes place Monday night in Atlanta.
For those that need a refresher, the Tide was one spot outside of the College Football Playoff field, with SMU taking the final spot in the bracket ahead of Alabama.
The decision made for quite the debate in college football circles.
The Mustangs fell for the second time in their season when they lost in the ACC championship game. Meanwhile, Alabama had three losses and didn’t qualify for the SEC Championship Game. However, SMU lacked the marquee wins the Crimson Tide had.
“We looked at the number of wins Alabama had against ranked opponents,” CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel said of the decision last month. “We looked at SMU’s schedule. They were undefeated in-conference. Their losses were to ranked teams. But we also looked at Alabama’s losses to unranked teams (Vanderbilt and Oklahoma). It was quite a debate.”
It was one of just many unusual moments of Trump’s inauguration day. Trump said he is going to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. Meanwhile, Carrie Underwood performed, despite a technical glitch that left people even more impressed with the singer’s performance.
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.
