Nick Saban: AI would have 'one hell of a time' figuring out controversial 2025 CFP bubble

Ahead of another controversial and chaotic Selection Sunday, when the 12-member College Football Playoff selection committee determines 2025’s 12-team bracket, Nick Saban believes even articifical intelligence would struggle to come up with an equitable Playoff field this season.

“There’s a lot of issues. Right now, if we had AI and they had all the information, they’d have one Hell of a time trying to figure out what this committee has to figure in terms of these last three or four teams,” Saban deadpanned at the conclusion of his pre-reveal hit on ESPN’s College Football Playoff Selection Show shortly after Noon ET Sunday.

This year’s most controversial Playoff debate centered around how SEC runner-up and No. 9-ranked Alabama (10-3) fits into the 12-team field when compared to two-loss Notre Dame (10-2) and Miami (10-2), which were ranked No. 10 and 12 in last week’s penultimate Top 25 rankings. Does a three-touchdown loss (28-7) to No. 3 Georgia in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game push out the Crimson Tide, which still holds a regular-season head-to-head win over those same Bulldogs in Week 5? And how does the Hurricanes’ Week 1 win (27-24) over the Fightin Irish factor into the discussion if and when the two are compared to one another? Then there’s the question of what to do with ACC Champion Duke (9-5), which upset previous No. 17 Virginia (10-3) 27-20 in Saturday night’s conference title game in Charlotte.

Nick Saban on 2025’s 12-team CFP field: ‘I don’t think there was a good answer for all this’

Ultimately the 12-member College Football Playoff selection committee ruled the Crimson Tide’s SEC Championship loss wasn’t enough to move them down from their No. 9 spot in the penultimate ranking. Without any change at nine, the committee boosted No. 12 Miami into the 12-team field as the new No. 10-ranked team, pushing out 11th-ranked Notre Dame in favor of top-ranked Group of Five champion Tulane, which won the American Conference, as the No. 11 seed. Sun Belt champion James Madison made the Playoff field as the fifth highest-ranked conference champ and No. 12 seed.

“I don’t think there was a good answer for all this,” Saban added later once the 12-team field was revealed. “I’m happy for the teams that got in and I think the committee did a really good job, I just think there was one team left out that I don’t think should’ve been left out some kind of way. But there was no way around it.”