Alabama was left out of the first-ever edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff on Sunday. The Crimson Tide finished at No. 11 in the final CFP rankings but was the first team left out of the playoff by the selection committee.

The Tide (9-3) was not given the final CFP spot in favor of SMU (11-2). The Mustangs reached the ACC Championship game losing narrowly to Clemson in a comeback effort, which allowed the Tigers to “steal a bid” by earning an automatic qualifier as the conference champion.

Despite the loss, the committee determined that SMU’s resume was enough to get it in over the Tide. Alabama has three wins over top-25 teams and the No. 16 ranked strength of schedule. SMU does not have a ranked win on its resume and has lost to the only two ranked teams it has played. Alabama has the No. 16 ranked strength of schedule, while SMU ranks No. 60.

Alabama Director of Athletics Greg Byrne aired his thoughts on Sunday’s decision on social media. Byrne heavily lobbed to get Alabama in the playoff over the last week and expressed his disappointment that the Tide’s resume was not enough in the committee’s eyes to get Alabama in.

“We had an extremely challenging schedule and recognize there were two games in particular that we did not perform as well as we should have,” Byrne said on X. “We have said that we would need to see how strength of schedule would be evaluated by the CFP. With this outcome, we will need to asses how many P4 non-conference games make sense in the future to put us in the best position to participate in the CFP. That is not good for college football.”

Though the Crimson Tide will miss the playoff for just the third time since it was first established in 2014, the Tide will play one final game this season. Alabama will play in the Reliaquest Bowl where it will face Michigan on Dec. 31 in Tampa, Florida. The Tide will face the Wolverines in a rematch of last season’s Rose Bowl. Michigan defeated Alabama 27-20 en route to the National Championship.

“We do not need to hang our heads and now need to finish this season strong,” Byrne added in his post. “We have a great group of young men who have led us with Coach DeBoer through the last year and we look forward to our opportunity in the Reliaquest Bowl.”