Miami's playoff hopes took a nosedive while Alabama's got a boost in the last rankings before the College Football Playoff bracket is set next weekend. The Hurricanes moved down six spots to number twelve, after suffering their second loss of the season. They are one spot behind the Crimson Tide, who won last week and moved up two spots to number eleven. Alabama fans will sit by this weekend as may be closely watching to see who wins between Texas and Georgia in the SEC championship.
Alabama is currently projected as the last team in and the fourth from the Southeastern Conference. Oregon stayed at number one for the fifth straight week and will head into Saturday's Big Ten title game as the only undefeated team in big-time college football. Miami's playoff hopes took an all-but-final nosedive while Alabama's got a boost Tuesday night in the last rankings before the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket is set next weekend.
The SEC title game will be awkward for the loser of Texas vs. Georgia. The Longhorns are perched too high to miss the playoff, though a loss would make them 0-2 vs. Georgia and 11-0 against everyone else, and they also have the conference's easiest schedule. For Georgia, it would be a third loss, but the committee doesn't seem likely to punish the Bulldogs for playing in the title game.
To make things worse for the Miami Hurricanes, selection committee chair and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said there was no way for them to leapfrog Alabama since neither team plays next weekend. The odds of them moving up based on lopsided results in the weekend's conference title games are virtually zero.
The Miami-Alabama sorting was the strongest indication yet that the selection committee is looking at more than mere wins and losses, but also at strength of schedule and other factors that appear to give the SEC an edge. Current projections, barring any big surprises, would be an Alabama game with Notre Dame at the start of the playoffs. Alabama is only two weeks removed from an ugly 24-3 loss at Oklahoma. The Tide still got better treatment than Miami, which fell 42-38 at Syracuse last week with a spot in the ACC title game at stake.
