Nick Saban and Urban Meyer agree team doesn't belong in College Football Playoff

With criticism of the College Football Playoff, virtually everybody has a take. The issue is that the takes aren't necessarily the same as to what should or shouldn't be changed. But two legendary coaches turned television analysts found a common theme in their comments on Wednesday and Thursday. Ahead of the weekend's first-round CFP games, Saban and Meyer found some common ground about this year's Playoff field.

On Saturday, college football history will be made when No. 11 seed Tulane faces No. 6 seed Ole Miss, while No. 12 seed James Madison takes on No. 5 seed Oregon. It's the first time in the brief history of the expanded Playoff that two Group of Five teams have earned Playoff spots. And if Saban and Meyer have their collective way, it'll be the last one too.

Meyer made his case on the topic on The Triple Option podcast. He noted, "I would mandate that a James Madison, or a non-Power four [team], you have to play three programs in the top 50 or you can't... be considered [for the Playoff]." Meyer coached Bowlling Green of the Mid-American Conference for two seasons, but had no sympathy for the smaller conference schools.

"You're telling the [Notre Dame] Fighting Irish to sit home and James Madison's going?" asked Meyer. "The better team is supposed to be in the game."

Meanwhile, Nick Saban adopted a sharper tone in discussing the Group of Five CFP squads and settled on the same specific team as Meyer. On The Pat McAfee Show, Saban took the entire idea of G5 Playoff teams to task. "Would we allow ther winner of the AAA baseball league... in the World Series playoffs?" asked Saban. "That's the equivalent of what we do whe JMU gets into the College Football Playoff and Notre Dame doesn't."

Saban traced much the same argument as Meyer, saying that the Playoff should involve the best teams regardless of their league. "To me, if you're not in the Top 15, I don't care what league you play in, you shouldn't be in the Playoffs." Saban also coached in the MAC at Toledo and also seemed unmoved by injustice on smaller leagues.

"You can think about it one way like we're letting someone from the Group of Five in," argued Saban. "[B]ut you're also taking somebody that should be in out, and that's not fair."