Nick Saban claims ‘some losses are better than some wins’

The College Football Playoff has changed the sport in a lot of ways, but one of the biggest is that much of the sport now centers around playoff resumes and which teams deserve to advance to the end-of-season playoff.

That has now led legendary college football head coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban to suggest that some losses should help a team more than wins do.

‘Fans love to see big games’

During Saturday’s edition of College GameDay, Nick Saban argued that the College Football Playoff committee should reward teams that play against elite opponents rather than punishing them for losing.

“Players love to play in big games,” Saban said via On3. “That’s what great competitors love to do. Fans love to see big games.”

This weekend’s slate of games features a few high-profile out-of-conference matchups, including No. 1 Ohio State against No. 4 Texas along with No. 11 Oklahoma on the road against Michigan. Saban argued that the current system discourages these sorts of matchups.

“I think what we’ve created now is a system of how many games you win helps you get into playoffs, and the playoffs become the barometer for the success of your program,” Saban added.

‘Some losses are better than some wins’

The College Football Playoff committee already heavily weighs strength of schedule and strength of record – in fact, strength of record is consistently the best predictor of where a team will be ranked by the committee. However, Saban says that there needs to be a “better metric” to evaluate these losses.

“We need a better metric to actually evaluate quality wins and quality losses,” Saban said. “Some losses are better than some wins.”

“Like last year, Texas lost to Ohio State. Is that better than them beating Texas State?” Saban explained. “I think there’s got to be some metric with the committee that evaluates those things a little better, so we get the best teams in the playoff.”

Texas, of course, was left out of the College Football Playoff after the Longhorns finished with a 10-3 record, including a loss to Ohio State. This, along with Notre Dame’s snub, led to some criticism, especially after two Group of Five schools made the field: James Madison (12-1) and Tulane (11-2). Ironically enough, Alabama finished 10-3 and made the College Football Playoff.