Alabama football got the playoff help it needed, but it may need a little more

Alabama football did its business in the Iron Bowl, defeating Auburn 28-14 to secure its fifth straight victory in the series. Had it not been for the egg laid in Norman a week earlier, the Crimson Tide would have punched their ticket to Atlanta to play Texas for the SEC Championship and probably already punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff.

Instead, Alabama was at the mercy of the college football playoff committee. The Tide needed to win and then needed some help. Alabama picked up the win and might have gotten just enough help thanks to two results with ACC teams.

First, South Carolina knocked off Clemson on the road. The Tigers were one spot ahead of the Crimson Tide a week ago. The Gamecocks’ win also puts them at 9-3, and there is media pressure that they could overtake Alabama, even though the Tide are coming off a straight win over the Gamecocks.

I don’t think the committee would choose South Carolina over Alabama if straight results are supposedly a big part of the formula they use to select teams.

Later in the day, Syracuse defeated Miami, beating the Hurricanes 10-2 and being eliminated from the ACC Championship Game.

Miami has one fewer loss than Alabama, but the Canes don’t have as many quality wins as the Tide. In fact, as things stand, Miami hasn’t beaten a ranked team all season. Alabama has three such victories over Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri.

The committee already set the precedent a few weeks ago that it could easily rank Alabama ahead of Miami, even though the Tide had one more loss than the Hurricanes. Two weeks ago, Alabama was ranked No. 6 while Miami was ranked No. 10.

I think Alabama will be the last team in the playoff field when the committee’s rankings are released on Tuesday. That’s just a guess at this point, but that’s how I see it. If Alabama is even lower, you can start planning for Orlando and the Citrus Bowl.

Even though Alabama is the last team in the scheduled field, the ACC Championship Game will be of great interest to Crimson Tide fans.

At 11-1, SMU likely secured its playoff ticket after a blowout win over Cal. The Mustangs started this week ranked 9th and I find it hard to believe that they would be penalized and eliminated for losing an extra game that Alabama didn’t have to play.

Clemson is off the field after a loss to South Carolina. Unless, of course, the Tigers can upset the Mustangs in the ACC Championship Game next week. If they do that, Clemson will be a bid stealer and the ACC will likely put two teams in the field.

In this case, Alabama might be the most unusual team to be eliminated. So if you want the Tide to make the playoffs, be prepared to cheer loudly for SMU next week.