The penultimate college football rankings have come out with TCU and USC emerging as the 3rd and 4th seeds. While this was a surprise to no one, what could potentially happen for the final rankings to be completely reshuffled?
Ohio State and Alabama are the two teams looking in currently, both not playing a game during championship weekend. Both teams don’t have much hope, but thforoth have options into the playoff. The most likely way is that #3 TCU and #4 USC both lose in their respective championship games. That would likely knock both of them out of the playoff and give Alabama and OSU entry. It could get messy if Georgia or Michigan loses, but very doubtful that either loss will change the teams in the playoff. Scenario 1 featuring a loss for both TCU and USC, will likely make Alabama the first 2 loss pteam. Are they really deserving of being in a playoff spot?
I look at it from the perspective that Alabama has somehow put themselves in a position to make the playoff after everything that occurred to them. They have two losses, which should be an automatic eliminator in my opinion. I don’t think any playoff team should have two losses no matter what the strength of the schedule is. The argument that works in this scenario is that Bama’s losses are to elite teams, Tennessee and LSU. Both losses were also on the last play of the game which I found to be pretty ironic. I still think the LSU loss is just the resume-breaker here.
LSU is the 14th-ranked team currently after their loss to a mediocre Texas A&M. That game really hurts Alabama’s chances as a team that was elite last week, simply isn’t anymore. Although that loss was necessary to give Alabama a chance, it is really a case of picking your poison. The Crimson Tide are a good team, but their extra loss is going to bite them. The committee will be evaluating this team by how good their losses are. Bama’s 3 top 25 wins against Arkansas, Mississippi St., and Ole Miss is another positive to add to their argument. Bama has been plagued with injuries to key players including Bryce Young should also be factored into their playoff resume. Do they deserve a spot? Yes, they deserve a spot, they look like a top-four team in college football. I would rank Bama ahead of USC and Ohio State based on how they have looked. Once again, this is not the criteria the committee uses which is why Bama is ranked 6th currently.
Overall the chances are not great, but they aren’t dead. Alabama has a solid team and if the wins and losses were irrelevant to the committee, they would likely be in the top 4. Unfortunately for them, the committee has a heavy emphasis on the comparison of the number of losses as well as conference championships. That will make all Bama fans big Kansas State and Utah fans this weekend as they are the respective opponents of both TCU and USC. With everything that has happened to Alabama, this has definitely been an extremely resilient team. Looking back at this year every single person connected to this team should be proud to a certain extent. The season isn’t over just yet, and just maybe, maybe Bama will sneak into the playoffs.
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