College Football Playoffs

Alabama is getting a boost in the last rankings before the College Football Playoff bracket is set next weekend. The Crimson Tide won last week and moved up two spots to No. 11. Alabama is projected as the last team in and the fourth from the Southeastern Conference.

Kalen DeBoer and Hugh Freeze are finding it's awfully hard to win in the Southeastern Conference these days. Now, they can try to beat each other. DeBoer caps his first regular season with the 13th-ranked Crimson on Saturday against Freeze’s Auburn Tigers, with the team’s league championship hopes dashed and playoff chances severely damaged.

One thing is sure as the Southeastern Conference wraps up its first expanded season: Two new teams has just meant more chaos in a league that seemingly had settled in formation behind Georgia and Alabama. The SEC's final week is filled with rivalries renewed.

Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson will miss the rest of the season with an injury. Coach Kalen DeBoer has described it as “a lower extremity injury” and says Lawson is out for Saturday’s game against Auburn and the postseason. Lawson was hurt in the first half of the Crimson Tide’s 24-3 loss to Oklahoma.

Alabama and Mississippi tumbled out of the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll and Miami and SMU moved in following a chaotic weekend in the SEC. Oregon is No. 1 for the sixth straight week and Ohio State, Texas and Penn State held their places behind the Ducks.

Alabama faces a tougher roadblock than it might appear in its quest to maintain positioning for the College Football Playoff. Sure, Oklahoma has struggled in its first Southeastern Conference season. The Sooners have fired their offensive coordinator, and they have the worst offense in the league. But they have a tough defense, too.

It would be easy for Texas A&M to overlook slumping Auburn. The Tigers must win their final two games to avoid a fourth straight losing season, but they’re only 2 1/2-point underdogs, according to the BetMGM Sportsbook. The Aggies enter the game among league teams in the mix for the playoffs and the SEC Championship Game.

Traditional college football heavyweights Alabama and Oklahoma square off Saturday night in the first regular-season matchup since 2003 between teams that have combined for 25 national titles. The teams have met just once each on the other’s home field, with the Sooners winning that '03 meeting 20-13 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

The Auburn Tigers host Louisiana-Monroe hoping to keep their shaky postseason hopes alive. The Tigers must win their last three games to become bowl eligible and avoid a fourth straight losing season. The Warhawks are 5-4 in coach Bryant Vincent's first season but they're trying to snap a three-game losing streak.

The last time a Kalen DeBoer team lost two games by mid-October, his Washington Huskies suddenly went on a tear. DeBoer and No. 9 Alabama would love a repeat after a dominant road win over then-No. 14 LSU. The Crimson Tide get a reprieve from Southeastern Conference play Saturday against FCS team Mercer before resuming the chase for league championship and playoff shots.