Alabama cracks the top 12 of the penultimate CFP rankings

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – With less than a week until the final College Football Playoff rankings of the year are released, Alabama is narrowly on the bubble.

The Crimson Tide moved up two spots this week, from 13th to 11th, making it the highest three-loss ranked team, one spot ahead of several two-loss teams, including Miami.

The Hurricanes started Saturday ranked No. 6, but a four-point loss to then-unranked Syracuse dropped them six spots.

As things currently stand, the Crimson Tide are expected to travel to South Bend to face Notre Dame in the first round.

Warde Manuel, the chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee, said the Tide’s higher ranking doesn’t mean they don’t think Miami is a good team.

“Both are very good,” said Manuel. “The committee ranked Alabama one spot above Miami, but that doesn’t detract from our assessment of Miami, even though they suffered two losses in the last three weeks. We still think Miami is a very strong team.”

During ESPN’s rankings reveal show, Manuel had discussed Alabama’s .500 record against teams over Miami compared to Miami as a reason the Crimson Tide got the nod ahead of the Hurricanes.

“When we evaluated Alabama and Miami, it came down to a difference in their work, not just wins, not just losses, but the entire season and the performance of those teams.”

Elsewhere in the rankings, Oregon remains the clear No. 1 as the last undefeated FBS team in the country.

Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame all advance one spot after Ohio State lost its first game of the year to Michigan on Saturday. The Buckeyes fell from second to sixth, while Georgia moved up to fifth.

With the latest rankings, Saturday’s SEC Championship game in Atlanta will now be a top-five matchup as Texas and Georgia both look to secure a bye in the first round of the playoffs as conference champions.

Tennessee is ranked seventh in the top 12 along with Texas, Georgia and Alabama.

The Vols wrapped up their regular season with a win over Vanderbilt on Saturday and will simply have to wait until next week to see who they face in the College Football Playoff.

Overall, the SEC has seven teams in the top 25.

The final playoff rankings will be released on Sunday, December 8th starting at 11 a.m

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