alabama: Is Alabama out of College Football Playoff? Closer look at final 12-team CFP field

Is Alabama out of College Football Playoff? Closer look at final 12-team CFP field

Syndication: The Montgomery Advertiser - Source: Imagn — Alabama were left just outside the College Football Playoff. - Source: Imagn

As the final College Football Playoff poll arrived on Sunday, the Alabama Crimson Tide’s position might have been the biggest point of contention among fans and analysts. The committee had to decide whether Alabama or SMU would get the final CFP bid.

Alabama (9-3), ranked No. 11 by the committee on Tuesday, held the last CFP spot coming into conference championship week. However, after Clemson upset SMU in a tightly contested ACC Championship Game, the Tide’s “doomsday scenario” became a reality.

With Clemson earning an automatic bid as a conference champion, the debate turned into how far the Mustangs (11-2) would drop, and if they would finish below Alabama for the last spot in the College Football Playoff field.

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Is Alabama out of the College Football Playoff?

After the final College Football Playoff rankings were released, the Mustangs were ranked 10th, one spot ahead of Alabama, punching their ticket to the CFP and leaving Bama out of the 12-team field.

The Crimson Tide’s profile was one of the most controversial among CFP candidates. While Kalen DeBoer’s squad held victories over No. 2 Georgia, No. 15 South Carolina and No. 19 Missouri, two of its three losses came against unranked teams that finished in the bottom half of the Southeastern Conference: Vanderbilt and Oklahoma.

The loss to the Sooners was particularly damaging, as they fell 24-3 to a team that had only one previous conference win, and that came in September.

On the other hand, SMU arrived at the ACC Championship Game with a single loss, at the hands of BYU, but no wins over teams that finished the season in the CFP Top 25. It did, however, come back from a 17-point deficit to tie the game before a long field goal gave Clemson the win and the automatic bid.

Who earned the No. 5-7 seeds in the College Football Playoff?

The other lingering question was how the No. 5 through 7 seeds play out, as both Texas and Penn State lost their conference championship games. Entering the week, there were questions on whether Notre Dame could jump one or both losers from the SEC and Big Ten championship games.

However, despite losing for the second time in the season, both Texas and Penn State dropped just below their conference champions, with the Longhorns hanging on for the No. 5 seed.

The Nittany Lions were seeded sixth, while the idle Fighting Irish were the No. 7 seed after finishing the year with an 11-1 record.

Who is going to the College Football Playoff?

While there was heartbreak this Sunday in Alabama, 12 other teams made it to the inaugural expanded College Football Playoff. The top four conference champions are seeded one through four and earned automatic bids for the quarterfinals, while the fifth top-ranked conference champion earned an automatic bid to the playoff field (Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State).

The next conference champion in the ranking (Clemson) also earned a spot on the CFP field, but as the lowest seed. The other seven top ranked teams also earned a spot in the first round and were seeded according to their placement in the CFP poll.

Here are the Final CFP rankings and team seedings: