CBS' Gary Danielson makes terrible argument for Alabama's playoff inclusion

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer
Gary Danielson thinks Alabama is a playoff team. (CBS)
Gary Danielson thinks Alabama is a playoff team. (CBS)

Gary Danielson really wants to see Alabama in the playoff. And he’s willing to make flimsy arguments to state his case.

As the fourth quarter wound down in Georgia’s throttling of Auburn in the SEC Championship Game, the longtime SEC on CBS analyst started his campaign for the No. 5 Crimson Tide to make the playoff.

” Let me say this, I don’t think the committee should take this game into effect at all,” Danielson said. “I think game one to the last game, Alabama has been the most consistent team, I think you can make the argument that top-to-bottom, they had not had any bad games. They’re one of the four best teams. That’s the way I look at it.”

Was Danielson trying to discount the SEC title game because Georgia sprinted away from the Tigers in the fourth quarter? Auburn beat Alabama last week — a win that denied Alabama a spot in Atlanta for the title game — and also beat Georgia three weeks ago. Both of those games came at home.

” I actually think Auburn in those two games could have beaten anyone in the country,” Danielson said.

OK? That makes sense … I guess. Georgia and Alabama were both ranked No. 1 when they visited Auburn. So if Auburn beat the No. 1 team those weeks, it theoretically could have beaten anyone else.

But, again, is that yet another excuse for Auburn’s poor play on a neutral field?

Georgia and Oklahoma are likely in the College Football Playoff with their wins on Saturday, along with the ACC champion — either Miami or Clemson. Those three spots are undisputed, at least to Danielson. He takes issue with the Big Ten champion, either undefeated Wisconsin or two-loss Ohio State, getting in ahead of Alabama.

” I still say this, it’ll still be a tough decision leaving no Big Ten … and taking two from the SEC,” Danielson said. “But listen, the committee set the precedent last year when they just basically said Ohio State was better than Penn State. They have to live with that decision and precedent they set last year.”

The precedent Danielson talks about here isn’t a precedent at all. Penn State had two losses. Ohio State had one last season. If Alabama is compared to a two-loss Ohio State team that wins the Big Ten, then sure, the argument has some teeth.

It’s a non-starter if Wisconsin beats the Buckeyes. A Big Ten title would move Wisconsin to 13-0. An undefeated Power Five team will never, ever get left out of a four-team College Football Playoff. Thinking it would — especially in favor of a team that didn’t even make its own conference title game — is insanely biased.

And maybe we should expect that from Danielson, a man who has no problem being a shill for the SEC. But if he’s going to shill, he should at least do it with a defensible premise.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!