When Alabama began practice in August as part of only three Power 5 conferences planning to play football at the time, Nick Saban called for “something or someone” to bring college football together under one roof.
Almost four months later, Saban has refined his opinion.
“One of the things that I also think this year has kind proven out more than anything thing else is we should have a commissioner for college football — at least for the Power 5 conferences,” he said during his radio show Thursday night. “Because all these conferences made different rules for how we could play the season.
“Not that I have an opinion about whether they should or shouldn’t get in the playoffs — because I’m not gonna go down that road — but you’re gonna have teams that played six games, and other teams that played 11 or 12 games, and you’re gonna have to make a decision as to which one of these teams have an opportunity to be in the playoff. I don’t care how you make the decision, it’s not gonna be totally fair to someone.”
The teams currently ranked in the top three of the College Football Playoff — Alabama, Notre Dame and Clemson — will have all played 11 games by the end of their respective conference championships Saturday. No. 4 Ohio State will reach six games, while No. 5 Texas A&M will have played nine games because of one COVID-19 cancellation and it not qualifying for the SEC championship game.
“If you had somebody that got everybody together and said, ‘OK, this is how we’re gonna do this. It’s gonna be the same for everybody,’ it probably would be a little more fair, more equitable for everybody involved,” Saban continued.
The four-team CFP field will be announced Sunday at 11 a.m. CT.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
