The College Football Playoffs selection committee put the Alabama Crimson Tide as the final at-large team in the penultimate rankings update in a controversial decision on Tuesday night.
The committee putting 9-3 Alabama at No. 11 means that the Crimson Tide won out the last spot over 10-2 Miami, 9-3 Ole Miss, 9-3 South Carolina, and 9-3 Clemson.
If Clemson is unable to upset SMU in the ACC Championship game this weekend, the Crimson Tide will own the last spot in the playoffs. If Clemson wins and takes one of the conference champion spots instead of SMU, though, the committee will have to decide between 11-2 SMU or 9-3 Alabama for the final at-large spot.
Alabama has had a bumpy season in their first year in the post-Nick Saban Era. The Crimson Tide brought in Kalen DeBoer but there have been some obstacles in the road. Alabama started its season with a win over No. 2 Georgia and also holds wins over South Carolina, No. 21 Missouri, and No. 15 LSU.
The Crimson Tide’s only ranked loss is to No. 11 Tennessee but Alabama also holds two bad unranked losses on the season. Alabama lost to Vanderbilt in early October and got hammered by Oklahoma in the second-to-last weekend of the season.
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer went on the Paul Finebaum Show before the reveal on Tuesday to make his team’s case while Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer did the same on The Pat McAfee Show. Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin had been using his widely popular social media account to pitch the Rebels’ case throughout the week.
After the reveal on Tuesday, Kiffin reposted an ESPN article titled “College Football Playoffs Anger Index,” which lists the Rebels as the No. 2 team justified to be most angry at the rankings on Tuesday behind Miami.
The third team on the list from ESPN’s David Hale is South Carolina.
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Some on social media didn’t hold back their frustration over the Crimson Tide getting the last spot.
The CFP committee has positioned Alabama for a playoff berth.
If this surprises you, you haven’t been paying attention for the past decade.
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 4, 2024
The college football playoff committee in 2031 trying to justify putting 5-7 Alabama in the playoffs pic.twitter.com/B3IZBA8D1Z
— College Football Live (@CollegeFBonX) December 4, 2024
Getting blown out by a 6-6 Oklahoma team with the 94th ranked offense wasn’t a dealbreaker for Alabama, but Miami losing by 4 points to 9-3 Syracuse did them in.
Absolutely absurd special treatment. pic.twitter.com/04hULZgez0
— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) December 4, 2024
Some, on the other hand, defended the committee’s reasoning:
I hate Alabama. But if the discussions for the final spot were to come down to the 3-loss SEC teams, the choice was easy.
SC lost to both, they’re out. And Bama just has a better resume than Ole Miss.
Don’t know where this crazy media push for SC came from.
— Brandon Walker (@BFW) December 4, 2024
If Alabama holds onto the 11-seed in the playoffs and SMU does win the ACC Championship, the Crimson Tide would likely have a path of at Notre Dame, vs SMU, vs Texas/Georgia en route to the National Championship game.
Tennessee, the 9-seed in the current playoff bracket, has a tougher route of at Ohio State, vs Oregon, vs Boise State/Penn State to reach the National Championship game.
The first round of the playoffs will be on campuses around the nation while all subsequent rounds are played in bowl sites.
As it looks here on Wednesday morning, the Crimson Tide will be in the playoffs barring a Clemson win over SMU this weekend in the ACC Championship.
THE UPDATED CFP BRACKET PROJECTION 🏈 pic.twitter.com/5dB1gqvoD0
— ESPN (@espn) December 4, 2024
