Nick Saban's weak Alabama football playoff pitch didn't fool selection committee | Toppmeyer

Unfortunately for Alabama, the sportsbooks do not determine national championships, and results still matter.

In a depiction of how mainstream sports betting has become – and how lacking Alabama’s College Football Playoff résumé was – coach Nick Saban worked a Saturday media circuit lobbying for the Crimson Tide (10-2) to earn playoff entry based on hypothetical point spreads.

“I think the whole goal is to get the best teams in, and what I would say to the committee or anyone else is, if we played any of these teams that are on the edge or getting in, would we be the underdog, or would we be the favorite?” Saban said on FOX as he made his pitch.

If you have the résumé, you promote your résumé.

If you ace the eye test, you promote the eye test.

And, apparently, if you're lacking in both departments, you promote hypothetical point spreads.

As soon as Saban finished his Fox interview during halftime of the Big Ten championship, the television station promoted Terry Bradshaw’s Bet Super 6 NFL betting picks. How appropriate.

Only Raphael Warnock spent more time on my TV campaigning for votes this weekend than Saban.

The CFP selection committee wasn’t fooled by Saban’s politicking. It ranked Alabama No. 5 on Sunday, confirming that bookies do not decide the playoff bracket.

The playoff quartet features Georgia, Michigan, TCU and Ohio State – which is as it should be, as soon as you cast gambling lines out of the discussion. Alabama didn’t accomplish enough or play well enough throughout its 12 games to warrant selection.

Alabama (10-2) is bound for the Sugar Bowl to face No. 9 Kansas State (10-3).

And, yes, the Tide will be a decided betting favorite, as it has been in every game this season.

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Sportsbooks aren’t fortune tellers, and handicappers don’t produce betting lines – or shift lines as wagers accumulate – with the primary goal of predicting outcomes. Rather, betting lines are designed to make sportsbooks money.

The ideal point spread for a casino is not necessarily one that comes closest to predicting the final score but rather a line that encourages 50/50 betting action. A point spread that generates equal betting action on each side of the line guarantees the house generates a profit because of the juice required to make a bet. Betting lines are influenced by public perception, which may or may not be based in reality.

While we’re on the topic, Alabama is 6-6 against the spread this season, according to Covers.com, compared to TCU going 9-3-1 against the spread.

That points to handicappers and the betting public undervaluing TCU all season.

If Alabama played the season wearing TCU jerseys, we wouldn't even be having this debate – because this team's achievements and performance do not reflect that of a playoff qualifier.

Saban pointed to quarterback Bryce Young’s injury affecting Alabama during the middle of the season, but Young was healthy when the Tide needed a last-second field goal to win at Texas.

Young was more than a month removed from suffering his shoulder injury on Oct. 1 when Alabama lost to LSU on Nov. 5. And Young’s performance was the only reason Alabama even had a chance of beating Tennessee in a last-second loss in October, when the Vols' shredded the Tide's defense.

TCU, by the way, also won at Texas. It never trailed in that game. The Frogs beat every Big 12 team before losing a rematch against Kansas State in the conference championship, while Alabama spent the day at home and Saban worked the stump.

Saban’s beef about the playoff field might be more centered on Ohio State than TCU.

“You show vulnerability when you get beat badly at the end of the season,” Saban told FOX.

Saban didn’t mention any teams specifically, but that comment sounded loaded with some bite meant for the Buckeyes, who lost 45-23 to undefeated Michigan in the regular-season finale.

“Let’s just get the best teams in there,” Saban said Saturday.

That’s where the Tide ran into its tallest hurdle.

No evidence on Alabama’s résumé or on the so-called eye test indicated it is definitively among the nation's four best teams. If Alabama were a two-loss team with a couple of wins against top-10 opponents or had just won a conference championship, this would be a different debate.

Alabama lost to two opponents with a combined six losses. It didn’t face the SEC’s best team. And it placed second in what proved to be the SEC’s weaker division this season.

The Buckeyes’ résumé doesn't shine, either, but their loss at least came against the Big Ten’s best team, and its best win (at Penn State) tops Alabama's signature victory.

I’m not going to tell you Ohio State earned this bid by watching Southern Cal lose the Pac-12 Championship, because it didn’t, but neither did Alabama. USC surrendered its spot, and the committee selected the most appropriate replacement out of the available options.

The real winners are Georgia and Michigan, which have a favorable path to the national championship.

Oh, and the casinos. The house always wins.

Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC Columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Nick Saban's weak Alabama football playoff pitch didn't fool CFP panel