Now we wait: SMU loss leaves Alabama CFP fate unclear for Selection Sunday
No. 17 Clemson defeated No. 8 SMU, 34-31, in the ACC Championship Game, which means the Tigers secured an automatic bid in the College Football Playoff. The victory also means that No. 11 Alabama will have to wait to learn if it is in the 12-team playoff field or not.
The Crimson Tide (9-3, 5-3 SEC) didn’t play on conference championship weekend and needed an SMU win to make for an easy Selection Sunday. But the Mustangs now fall to 11-2. Will the CFP selection committee drop SMU behind Alabama in the final rankings? It happened to Miami after it lost its second game of the season. Many believe it will happen again.
CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel was asked that specifically on Tuesday evening.
“Potentially, yes,” Manuel said on a conference call. “And they could move above teams, as well. Again, it just depends on the outcome of the game.”
One metric the committee used when comparing Alabama and Miami was the teams’ records against current top-25 teams. The Tide is 3-1, while SMU is now 0-2 after tonight’s loss. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban pointed to that metric on the Pat McAfee Show.
“I do think that strength of schedule and what teams did you beat, how many good teams did you beat, I think that speaks volumes about what kind of team you’re capable of being,” Saban said. “And I think there’s a lot of ups and downs in college football.
“Probably, the system has created that to some degree, because it’s more difficult to be consistent. But I don’t think we want to do anything in this playoff situation that’s going to enhance people not to play a tough schedule.
“I think we want people to play a tough schedule because you want good games. People want to see good games. Well, you want people to play in those games, and you want them to schedule some tough non-conference games. So I don’t think we want to enhance people that won 10 or 11 games and didn’t play one top-25 team or didn’t beat one top-25 team.”
Alabama will be ready for whatever happens when the final bracket is revealed on Sunday.
“We’ve got plans for all of it, depending on what day you’d be playing and what practices look like – lifting, meetings and all that,” head coach Kalen DeBoer told Paul Finebaum. “Just always planning ahead and having a plan A, plan B, plan C for everything.”
The final CFP rankings will be revealed on Sunday, December 8, at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.
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