CFP Rankings Analysis: Alabama's Path to the Playoffs

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00:00But here are the rankings in this Kev, the projected bracket, the fifth set of the CFP

00:09rankings entering conference championship weekend.

00:12Some teams in the field are idle on an open weekend.

00:16They know for the most part, as of this moment, they should expect a birth to the college

00:20football playoff.

00:21But there is a lot to be determined as well based on these conference title games on this

00:27Saturday.

00:28One of the main talking points that we broke down in our rapid reactions on Tuesday night

00:32on that great program that is game time decisions was, of course, one of the storylines entering

00:37this Saturday, Alabama, as of right now, would be the final at large birth to the college

00:43football playoff, the highest ranked of any of those three lost SEC teams.

00:47And that was what we were waiting to find out.

00:50The idea was it was Bama against Miami, maybe South Carolina.

00:55But I think we saw this committee was nowhere near the group that was going to, you know,

01:00have the hey, we think South Carolina can get in.

01:02They lost to Bama.

01:03The head to heads have mattered far too much.

01:05When you put Miami up against Alabama, Lisa, look, there's compelling cases on both sides

01:11of those football teams.

01:13I think what won the day for Alabama was the quality of victory.

01:18I don't really care about Missouri, quite frankly, the fakest team in college all year

01:22long.

01:23I don't think we've broken any of their games down.

01:24It feels like the win over Georgia, the domination in Death Valley against LSU.

01:31Those are the type of things that I think kept Alabama above Miami, who cannot point

01:36to any ranked wins currently on their resume.

01:39Yeah.

01:40ACC not getting any love.

01:41And to Kevin's point, the domination of LSU at the end of the regular season, the fact

01:45that South Carolina went and had a heater at the end of the regular season since they

01:49lost that game to Ole Miss, right.

01:51One of the hottest teams in the country.

01:53They lost to Alabama in Tuscaloosa, a very close game by two points, but that still benefited

01:58the Alabama Crimson Tiger.

01:59I think when it came down to the, are we going to take Miami or are we going to take Alabama?

02:04Brand recognition, I think, plays into it as well.

02:06When you have a team like Alabama and the dominance, even though Kalen DeBoer is there,

02:11Alabama deserves to be in, right?

02:12You know, just the SEC schedule a little bit harder, I believe, than what Miami faced.

02:18But Miami, in my opinion, is deserving.

02:21I don't know how you split the hairs when you look at the top 12 teams.

02:25It's unfortunate because the loser of SMU and Clemson, most likely in this type of situation,

02:31is going to be out.

02:33And it's really unfortunate.

02:34ACC in back-to-back years gets kicked out of the college football playoff.

02:37Well, Clemson would not be deserving with a loss in the conference championship game

02:42because the resume for the Tigers is not exactly, but they could be a big stealer like we often

02:48see during conference tourney week in college hoops, now here in the 12-team era of the

02:53college football playoff.

02:55But that's a huge component, Joe.

02:56And there's only two places that are still outstanding to reach the college football

03:01playoff available on some sportsbooks like the FanDuel Sportsbook.

03:05And Lacey, when you look at the numbers right now, Alabama is minus 430 to reach the CFP.

03:11SMU can earn the automatic bid with a victory tonight in Charlotte against Clemson in the

03:16ACC title.

03:18But the stains are also minus 430.

03:20And we heard from committee chairman Ward Manuel, who is the athletic director at Michigan,

03:25as well, that if SMU loses to Clemson tonight, knowing that their 12-game regular season

03:33data is already complete like that of Alabama, could SMU fall back behind the Crimson Tide

03:40come Selection Sunday?

03:41Ward Manuel said, potentially, yes.

03:43Yeah, I think depending upon how they lose and how this game plays out, we always talk

03:48about margin of victory, margin of defeat matters as well.

03:51And you go back to the 2014 season where Ohio State dominates Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship,

03:58propels them to a national title, same type of situation, right?

04:02SMU only loss on the year came at that particular point to an undefeated BYU team.

04:07And Preston Stone was the starter in that matchup, but wasn't even now current starter

04:11Kevin Jennings.

04:12So when you think about it, this team is as hot as anybody in the country.

04:16But their first year in the ACC, the fact that the brand, nobody recognizes SMU as being

04:22a college football power, that that leaves the door open for this college football playoff,

04:27Kev, to say, you know what, the Mustangs aren't deserving when in fact they are.

04:32Well, again, SMU is deserving if the season ended today.

04:35But SMU has the same problem Miami.

04:38There's no wins on the resume where you hold up and go see what we did.

04:43Someone has to, so fine, I'll do it.

04:44I'll defend the blue blood, right?

04:47Like the college football excellence is built on the back of programs like the Crimson Tide.

04:53This was supposed to be a down year for Alabama.

04:55They're sat there at nine and three.

04:56If I preseason told you the Crimson Tide got to nine and three, is that good enough to

05:00get into a 12 team playoff?

05:02Yep.

05:03I think so.

05:04I think what's happened somewhere along the way, because in the 14 format, it was only

05:10the best.

05:11We said, when we expand, we got to let some of these other teams, hey, we are letting

05:14other teams get in.

05:15Boise is getting a buy in this nonsensical format that we have now.

05:20We don't have to go above and beyond to keep out a team like Alabama.

05:25We don't have to, hey, we got to give SMU a shot here.

05:28We got to give Arizona State a shot.

05:30Those teams have chances.

05:31Look, it is weird to lose a conference championship game and get banged up for it.

05:37But I know for a fact that on this desk at Georgia last lost week to Tech, people would

05:41be frothing at the mouth to get the Bulldogs out if they lost again to Texas.

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