Alabama’s case for College Football Playoff berth: Why Crimson Tide deserve spot in 12-team bracket

Gentlemen, start your spinning. Coaches, athletic directors and conference commissioners are champing at the bit for TV time this week as they make their final pitches to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.

Alabama, Miami, South Carolina, the SEC, the ACC and the Big 12 have all made their cases to be included – or add more teams – in the field. The No. 11 Crimson Tide stand in the best position heading into the weekend, though their fate likely hinges on what happens in the ACC Championship Game between No. 8 SMU and No. 17 Clemson. It’s never cut and dry – just ask Florida State in 2023 – but this year seems more clear cut: if the Mustangs lose by double digits to the Tigers, the Tide may sneak in.

While schools’ athletic directors state their cases to the CFP via appearances on television – something akin to political pundits on cable news, shouting and offering little to sway the general public’s stance – the committee has already played their hand. Their penultimate top 25 released this week plotted a course for Alabama, and committee chairman Warde Manuel cleared up further complications when he explained teams not playing this weekend in conference championship games can not jump the Tide in the rankings.

Simply put: Alabama, not the aforementioned schools grasping at straws, will land in the field as the last at-large team if all goes according to plan.

You want chaos? The only possibility is whether the committee slides SMU below Alabama if the Mustangs lose in the ACC title game. There’s also the possibility UNLV steals Boise State’s automatic bid as the Mountain West’s champion, though that won’t affect the Tide.

It’s possible SMU (11-1) slides behind Alabama (9-3) with a loss, Manuel explained this…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/alabamas-case-for-college-football-playoff-berth-why-crimson-tide-deserve-spot-in-12-team-bracket/

Author : Brandon Marcello

Publish date : 2024-12-06 20:17:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.