The College Football Playoff is right around the corner, with several teams continuing to fight for a spot in the postseason with just over two weeks remaining until Section Sunday.
By now, it's well-documented that the CFP will have an entirely new look to it this year. The field has expanded from four teams to 12, and the CFP format will include eight of the 12 teams playing a first-round game at the stadium of the higher seed.
During his weekly segment on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" on Friday, former Alabama football Nick Saban said that, if he were still manning the sidelines in Tuscaloosa, he would rather play a potential home game in the first round, as compared to receiving a first-round bye.
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Of course, that means his team would not win the SEC — or, perhaps, even play in it. The latter of those scenarios has become something of a talking point this year, with Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin claiming some SEC coaches don't want to play in it and potentially risk missing out on the CFP with a loss in the conference championship.
Alabama is currently projected to play on the road in the first round of the CFP based on Tuesday's CFP rankings .
"I definitely would rather have home field advantage and play a game at home than have a bye," Saban said Friday at Ohio State .
Saban continued making his argument by highlighting the amount of "downtime" that the teams that make the CFP already have between games. Per the CFP schedule for this year, two weeks separate Selection Sunday from the start of the first round. That downtime — 12 days — is extended to 23 days for the four highest conference champions that receive a first-round bye before their first game in the quarterfinals.
"Because you have time at that point of the season to recover anyway, so is it an advantage to have more weeks off and try to get into the game or play more in a rhythm, go play and have a home field game?" Saban said.
Using the most recent CFP rankings, two SEC teams — Ole Miss and Georgia — are currently projected to travel to Big Ten country for the first round of the CFP to face No. 7 Indiana and No. 6 Penn State , respectively. The 9-seeded Crimson Tide would also be set to travel up north to South Bend, Indiana, to face No. 8 Notre Dame.
Historically speaking, all three locations would pose weather challenges for Alabama, Ole Miss and Georgia: Late December in the north means cold weather, high wind gusts and, potentially, snow. The same could be made if Notre Dame, Penn State and Indiana were to travel down south and deal with the heat for this round of the CFP.
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The former Alabama coach finished by saying that he hopes that, following this year's College Football Playoff, as the CFP committee continues to hash out details and figure out which bowl game goes into each round.
"I think in college football, especially the big stadiums in the Big Ten and SEC, and all over the country really, having a game at home is a huge advantage," Saban said. "If you are a higher-ranked team, that is should be something you take advantage of."
The first round of the College Football Playoff is set to take place across Friday, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Dec. 21.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Nick Saban on CFP: Home field advantage preferable to first-round bye
