ATLANTA (AP) — A familiar face was missing as the coaches gathered Thursday at the College Football Hall of Fame to discuss the upcoming playoff.

So was a guy who was supposed to be there.

For the first time since the playoff started in 2014, Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide won't be a part of it. Losses to LSU and Auburn finished off its chances of a sixth straight postseason appearance.

"They pack us in this little glass room for about 30 minutes before this," Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. "To walk in there and not see him was certainly a little strange."

Riley had expected to se...