The College Football Playoff selection committee released rankings Tuesday that have sparked a fresh wave of criticism over how teams are being evaluated. Kevin Clark, host of ESPN’s “This Is Football,” took to social media with a sharp rebuke of the committee’s methodology after Paul Finebaum expressed frustration with the latest rankings.
Clark argued that the committee has fundamentally broken what makes college football’s regular season compelling by placing more weight on the quality of losses than the merit of victories.
The rankings revealed a pattern that has drawn scrutiny from every angles. Notre Dame sits at No. 9 while Miami occupies the No. 13 spot. The Hurricanes defeated the Fighting Irish 31-24 in Week 1 at Hard Rock Stadium.
Committee chair Hunter Yurachek explained on ESPN that the panel compared the two teams primarily through their losses rather than their head-to-head result. Miami lost to two unranked teams in Louisville and SMU. Notre Dame’s defeats came against No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 13 Miami when both teams were ranked.
Another case study is Alabama. The Crimson Tide dropped from No. 4 to No. 10 after a two-point home loss to No. 8 Oklahoma. The fall came despite Alabama owning four victories over ranked opponents, including a road win at No. 4 Georgia.
Texas fell seven spots to No. 17 following a 35-10 loss to Georgia, though the Longhorns beat Alabama earlier in the season. Clark posted his critique in a video shared on X formerly Twitter.
My friend @finebaum said he’s at a loss to describe what the CFP committee is doing so he let me try.
I’ll start here: The committee is ruining the best regular season format in all of sports, and valuing losses over wins is against the spirit of the sport and our country. pic.twitter.com/DsuCFwLUUo
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) November 20, 2025
Committee’s Emphasis on Losses Creates Confusion Across Multiple Conferences and Brackets
Yurachek addressed Alabama’s drop during the selection show Tuesday night. The Arkansas athletic director pointed to the Tide’s struggles running the football at Florida State, South Carolina, LSU and Oklahoma.
Two of those games were wins. The committee apparently weighted rushing efficiency heavily in its deliberations. Alabama generated 400 yards of offense in the Oklahoma loss but managed just 70 rushing yards.
The Notre Dame and Miami comparison drew serious attention. Yurachek said the teams had not been in comparable pools during the committee’s deliberations but acknowledged Miami was moving into that range.
The committee’s emphasis on how teams lose rather than who they beat has created uncertainty for programs sitting on the bracket’s edge.
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