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The fallout from this year’s College Football Playoff bracket continues days after the selection committee sparked controversy with its at-large bid teams.
The main culprit? Alabama received the No. 9 seed despite being defeated by the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game to fall to 10-3 on the season.
Many believed that the Crimson Tide’s loss meant that both Miami and Notre Dame were going to get in. Instead, the selection committee opted to leave out the Fighting Irish, giving the Hurricanes the No. 10 seed, followed by conference winners Tulane (No. 11) and James Madison University (No. 12).
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Robert Griffin III on ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” at SoFi Stadium. (Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports)
For FOX Sports analyst and 2011 Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, the selection committee simply “got it wrong this year” and his thoughts revolve around some biases.
“The SEC bias is clear. There are five SEC teams, and I think most people would agree, having looked at this and the numbers and seen the recent trends over the last three years, the SEC just isn’t as dominant as it used to be,” he told Pak Gazette Digital after helping USAA give away new vehicles to two military veterans ahead of the 126th Army-Navy game this weekend. “The Big Ten has caught up, the Big 12 is a more competitive league from top to bottom than they get credit for. I thought the committee could have made it as easy as possible to make the most people happy because it was within their parameters.”
What exactly was “the easiest thing possible” in Griffin’s eyes? It was having both Miami and Notre Dame, because he now feels that BYU, which went 11-2 this season after being defeated in the Big 12 Championship Game by No. 4 Texas Tech, was punished.
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Meanwhile, Alabama had a chance at a national title despite a similar result and one more loss than the Cougars.
“If you’re going to punish BYU, punish Alabama,” Griffin explained. “Alabama has an extra loss, they were both eliminated in their conference championship games. Take them both out. Now, that way you put Miami and Notre Dame in, and avoid all that head-to-head talk and all that. They did the worst thing that could be done: they punished BYU and then put Miami over Notre Dame, even though neither team played. [in a conference championship] and made them jump against each other. “It didn’t make any sense.”
Griffin added that one problem for BYU was that they were never inside the top 10 in previous rankings leading up to the draft.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman gestures from the sideline during the Stanford game, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Stanford, California. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
But one of the national conversations is whether the selection committee can be trusted in the future. Of course, an expanded playoff format means some teams will have to fall at the end, but Griffin sees bias in the process like many others.
“When you talk about trusting the committee, the committee, in my opinion, has too many good men to make this colossal mistake,” he said. “It’s not just about saying ‘Oh, there might be some SEC bias.’ There clearly is SEC bias. I’m not mad at JMU, I’m not mad at Tulane. They did what they were supposed to do based on the rules. They won their games, they deserve to be there.
“This illusion that we’re trying to put the 12 best teams in the country… it’s not true, man. It’s never been about the 12 best teams. It’s about the 12 teams you can justify putting in, and I think they got it wrong this year.”
Notre Dame has since declined any bowl game invitations, while BYU will play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against Georgia Tech.
Griffin was back in Baltimore, where he spent the remaining years of his NFL playing career, to show honor through action in the tradition of the annual Army-Navy Game by giving away two recycled vehicles with USAA, the official Salute to Service partner of the NFL.
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake signals a replay with the referees during the game against Cincinnati, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
HELPING THOSE WHO SERVE US
Petty Officer 1st Class Jamil Lewis, who currently serves in the Navy as a cryptologic technician, and Army National Guard veteran Patrick Huber were surprised by Griffin with the new vehicle in Inner Harbor off the USS Constellation.
Griffin, who comes from a military family, has long enjoyed his association with USAA and couldn’t have been happier to help with this.
“I’m very honored to partner with USAA. We’ve been partnering for the last 13 years, and I’m a person who likes to make genuine, authentic partnerships. The military brat, mom and dad served in the military. So, I’m a ‘go army, beat the navy’ guy – 31 years combined between them. Seeing the impact we’ve been able to make over the last 13 years, doing things to let our military members know they’re not forgotten, not something for me,” he explained. “If you’re doing something for me, you’re doing something for these families that we can impact, to make their lives a little bit easier. It’s not a free car. I say that because, yes, they didn’t have to pay money for it, but there was sacrifice for us and our freedoms to be able to get this kind of treatment. We want them to know that, ‘Hey, we appreciate you.'”
From left, Mark Steiding of Kenwood Auto Body, Robert Griffin III, National Guard veteran Patrick Huber, USAA Senior Vice President Rob Braggs and Dale Moss of NABC Recycled Rides pose at the USAA Army-Navy Game NABC Recycled Rides Car Gifting in Baltimore on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Edwin Remsberg)
Griffin said Huber, a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, made sure to talk to him during their time together about the Washington Commanders, who drafted the Baylor product.
And Griffin also loved watching Lewis’ 9-year-old son, one of his five children, “become furious” when he realized what was happening.
“They got a free car to the point where, 30 minutes after the event, he’s still sitting in the passenger seat,” Griffin said of Lewis’ son.
