The College Football Playoff first round should have been a cause for celebration. We had electric on-campus atmospheres in Happy Valley, South Bend, Austin and Columbus. And we had an expanded 12-team field, giving teams that had magical seasons, Indiana and SMU, an opportunity to compete for a chance to win the national championship.

Those on-campus environments — the crowds, the cold weather, the tradition — were championed. But as for Indiana and SMU, they were made a mockery of. After losses to Notre Dame and Penn State, they were trolled, and they were told they didn’t belong. And that’s BS.

In the case of Paul Finebaum, it’s annoying. In the case of Kirk Herbstreit, it’s surprising and unnecessary. In the case of Lane Kiffin, it’s flat-out embarrassing. And for the good of the sport — and for everyone’s sanity — it would be great if they kept their trash takes to themselves.

The SEC homerism and ridiculous hypotheticals have run rampant in recent weeks. But they were at their most nauseating over the weekend after a few first-round CFP blowouts.

Let’s first look at the Indiana-Notre Dame game. The Hoosiers went 11-1 in the regular season. Led by a first-year head coach and a collection of Group of Five transfers, Indiana dominated almost every team on its schedule. It didn’t have a ranked win on its resume. And against Ohio State, the Hoosiers were overwhelmed. But Indiana played who was on its schedule and emerged from Big Ten play with one loss. The Hoosiers deserved to be celebrated, not ridiculed. And they deserved to be in the 12-team CFP.

Losing at Notre Dame doesn’t change that, especially considering how other teams turned out in 2024. It’s not Curt Cignetti or Kurtis Rourke’s fault Alabama and Ole Miss had three losses.

And yet, the SEC homers were out in full force with snarkiness and flimsy arguments. After Indiana’s 27-17 loss to Notre Dame, which, admittedly, is a flattering final score, Kiffin turned to social media. The Ole Miss coach put on his SEC cape and went to bat for, at least this season, a mediocre conference.

Kiffin posted on X (formerly Twitter) after Indiana’s loss, “Really exciting competitive game,” while tagging the College Football Playoff’s official account. “Great job.” Kiffin’s remark lacked any awareness whatsoever.

No matter what people may say about the talent on Alabama and Ole Miss, they did not earn their way into the 12-team field. Maybe they would have been in if the CFP committee made the bracket in August. But not after Ole Miss lost at home to an awful Kentucky team that finished 4-8. Not after Alabama had a 21-point loss to a bad Oklahoma team in November and gave up 40 points in a loss to 6-6 Vanderbilt.

Kiffin wanted to ignore that. And so did Herbstreit, apparently.

Penn State head coach James Franklin talks with ABC analyst Kirk Herbstreit during warm up before the Ohio State game on Oct. 30, 2021. Joe Hermitt | [email protected]

After not raising any red flags on the numerous rankings shows that ESPN force feeds us, Herbstreit had a problem with Indiana’s CFP inclusion on Saturday morning. The normally level-headed analyst — who happens to be employed by the SEC’s media rights holder — turned into an SEC apologist.

“Indiana was outclassed in that game,” Herbstreit said. “It was not a team that should’ve been on that field when you consider other teams that could’ve been there.”

Not sure what other teams Herbstreit was talking about, because Alabama and Ole Miss lost to Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. We’re just going to assume the Crimson Tide and Rebels would have fared better against Notre Dame? Even though they proved in the regular season that they can lose in embarrassing fashion to subpar teams? OK.

The SEC bias grew louder as the first round continued on Saturday afternoon. During Penn State’s 38-10 win over SMU, Kiffin tweeted: “Way to keep us on the edge of our seats Committee. … Riveting.” Finebaum, ESPN’s SEC mouthpiece, quipped: “So far, the CFP selection committee has given us some blockbusters. Take a bow.”

This is the part of the column where we acknowledge that blowouts happen. In fact, they happen quite often in the CFP. In the four-team CFP era, from 2014-23, the average margin of victory in the semifinals (in essence, the first round) was 17.9 points.

Florida State, Michigan State, Oklahoma, and Ohio State lost CFP semifinal games by 39, 38, 35 and 31 points in 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2016. These things happen. Sometimes there aren’t four — or 12 — teams capable of winning the national championship. That showed in Indiana and SMU’s losses.

But guess what? It showed up again on Saturday night when Tennessee got its doors blown off at Ohio State. Thousands of Vols fans made the five-hour drive from Knoxville to Columbus, which made for an awesome scene. But the SEC takeover didn’t happen on the field. The Buckeyes stomped Tennessee, 42-17. There were even Ohio State fans chanting, “SEC! SEC!” in the stands, mocking the proud conference.

Meanwhile, where was Kiffin in all this? He posted before the game, “Let’s go Vols!!!!” After that, not a peep. Crickets. Silence. Which was interesting. If Tennessee got blown out, surely the Vols didn’t deserve to be in the field. That’s how this works, right?

Sarcasm aside, Tennessee belonged in the CFP. And so did Indiana and SMU.

And nothing that Kiffin, Finebaum or Herbstreit said should distract you from that fact.

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