Greg Byrne, the highly respected athletic director at the University of Alabama, has found himself at the center of a firestorm after the Crimson Tide was left out of the College Football Playoff field. Although this snub came as a surprise to many, Byrne has vowed to reassess his non-conference scheduling philosophy moving forward.
While the notion of reevaluating scheduling strategies may seem like a simple task on the surface, the stakes are incredibly high in the cutthroat world of college football. Non-conference scheduling is a constant juggling act, with athletic directors walking a thin line between competitiveness and revenue generation.
At major programs like Alabama, there are legitimate concerns about the teams you Line up against. In theory, scheduling weaker opponents can result in more victories, bolstering the argument that your program should be in the national championship mix come season's end. However, this flawed system creates a culture of "fattening up" on weaker teams, essentially inflating a team's stats by winning games that have no real bearing on the elusive championship.
However, within the college football landscape, conference woes ultimately culminate in high-profile games on New Year's Day. These occasions become key drivers of debate for a lot of CFP aspirants. It is here that institutions will reap the biggest prize when bowl season draws in. These massive stages typically have top-four aspirants seeking final punctuation on their campaigns as great team leaders who fuel momentum to ultimately galvanize.
For athletic directors like Greg Byrne who are responsible for guiding storied programs like Alabama through this nuanced scheduling landscape, critical choices await each new recruiting phase. Alabama can either continue its current pace or refocus toward far more top-flight match ups.
Regardless of the future course that Greg Byrne chooses for Alabama, there can be no denying that the Tide will emerge on the other side more resilient than ever due to this reevaluation. The CFP landscape, though sometimes imperfect in its implementations of strategy and performance, has forced great adaptations and recalculations of true worth across the ever-winding NCAA system. With this, the world of sport acquires the momentum needed for new great accomplishments.