Paul Finebaum describes what a win over Tennessee would do for Alabama’s College Football Playoff hopes

Alabama has a chance to erase any doubt by beating Tennessee on the road this weekend, especially when it comes to the College Football Playoff.

Texas is at the top of the SEC followed by Georgia, in terms of playoff probability, according to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum. Of course when the two play each other this weekend, it could drastically change.

But as far as Alabama is concerned, the Crimson Tide need a win over Tennessee to get out of the bubble of the conference.

“(The only one) I think I would feel really comfortable saying is automatic, is Georgia,” Finebaum said on McElroy and Cubelic. “And even though I know the Georgia path is complicated, I still feel like that club is capable. And then you get into this log jam of Texas A&M, LSU (and) Alabama, Tennessee, you know, Ole Miss kind of at the bottom of that, and every week will help determine that. 

“So I mean, if Alabama wins this weekend, and they are a slight favorite, then I think they’re in a tremendously good position. But that’s why this game was always so important, especially if Alabama had a loss going into it.”

Alabama playoff hopes hinging on Tennessee game?

Tennessee is in a very similar position to Alabama, coming into this game with one loss. Neither team is eliminated from playoff contention with a second loss, but it’ll negatively affect the loser.

Alabama was nearly in that situation as they escaped with a 27-25 win over South Carolina over the weekend.

“Another game down the wire,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said postgame. “We’re kind of getting accustomed to those. I think there’s some things that we can certainly do to make sure that doesn’t get to that point. But we always talk about finding a way to win, and as many times it maybe looked like we weren’t, we did. And the guys, I guess, the biggest thing I’m proud of is the response starting early in the week. 

“Today, there’s things I think that happened because of the way they came ready to practice, whether it was just a response Sunday after we got together and kind of talked over the truth of what we had happen a week ago, and then Tuesday, just back to work. So a very, very unified group that understands that there’s still so much more we can get better at.”

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