Alabama Football appears to have a strong position heading into Tuesday night’s first College Football Playoff rankings. Most (but certainly not all) national, college football pundits expect the Crimson Tide will be ranked in the top four. Considering there are still four, undefeated Power Five teams, plus undefeated and highly ranked in the AP and Coaches polls, Cincinnati – a one-loss Alabama Crimson Tide in the top four should please Tide fans.
Alabama Football has to either win out – or do what no team has ever done – make the Playoffs with two losses. If it does win out, and tops Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, the Crimson Tide just needs to be ranked in the top six on Tuesday night.
The week one CFB Playoff rankings are valuable only as to how the committee rates the resumes of a few teams. The actual slots of the teams will change more than not until the final ranking is released on Dec. 5.
The less than firm status of teams in the first rankings will not limit dissatisfaction. More fanbases will be disappointed than pleased.
Anyone pretending to know what the Selection Committee will release on Tuesday is misguided. No one outside the committee can know anything other than the Georgia Bulldogs will be ranked No. 1.
Resumes of Alabama Football and other Contenders
The AP Poll ranking is used to list the teams. Each team is tracked by three categories: best win, worst loss and worst win.
- Georgia Bulldogs – Best win over No. 12, 6-2 Auburn. The worst loss is none. The worst win is 10-3 over unranked Clemson.
- Cincinnati Bearcats – Best win over No. 8, Notre Dame. The worst loss is none. The worst win is 27-20 over 2-6, Navy.
- Alabama Crimson Tide – Best win over No. 15, Ole Miss. The worst loss is 41-38 to No. 13, Texas A&M. The worst win is 31-29 over unranked Florida.
- Oklahoma Sooners – Best win over unranked Kansas State. The worst loss is none. The worst wins are over Tulane, Nebraska and Kansas.
- Michigan State Spartans– Best win over No. 9, Michigan. The worst loss is none. The worst wins are over Indiana and Nebraska.
- Ohio State Buckeyes – Best win over 6-2 Minnesota. The worst loss is to No. 7 Oregon (Oregon lost to a 3-5 team). The worst win is none.
- Oregon Ducks – Best win is over No. 6, Ohio State. The worst loss is to 3-5, Stanford. The worst win is 24-17 over 3-5, Cal.
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish– Best win over No. 28, Wisconsin. The worst loss is to No. 2, Cincinnati. The worst win is 32-29 over Toledo.
- Michigan Wolverines – Best win over No. 28, Wisconsin. The worst loss is to No. 5, Michigan State. The worst win is 32-29 over 3-6, Nebraska.
- Wake Forest Demon Deacons – Best win over 6-3, Virginia. The worst loss is none. The worst win is 37-34 over 4-4, Louisville.
One conclusion from the resumes highlighted above is the challenge faced by the Selection Committee. After the Georgia Bulldogs, there really are no clear choices.
There will be four more Tuesday rankings releases after the first one on Nov. 2. The final rankings will be released on Sunday, Dec. 5.