Paul Finebaum makes eye-catching remark on Alabama's potential CFP position following Kalen DeBoer's takeover

The Alabama Crimson Tide, under coach Kalen Deboer, won the Iron Bowl against the Auburn Tigers in convincing fashion, beating coach Hugh Freeze's team, 28-14, in Week 14 of college football action.

Despite the win, the Crimson Tide still finished the season with a 9-3 record, and uncertainty over their participation in the College Football Playoff loomed large.

On Tuesday, Bama was ranked No. 11 in the latest CFP rankings ahead of the two-loss Miami Hurricanes and three-loss Ole Miss Rebels and South Carolina Gamecocks.

During Tuesday's edition of ESPN's "First Take," outspoken analyst Paul Finebaum was surprisingly fine with Bama's favorable ranking that might see them sneaking into the playoffs once again.

"I think Warde Manuel (CFP chair) who is the most important person for this conversation laid it out, Miami has a better record but that's not really the point," Finebaum said. "Bama has played a much better schedule, they've done better against better teams and ultimately I think the Georgia win for Alabama way back in late September really matters.

"What Miami did wrong was lose the most important game and that was to Syracuse. I admit more than anyone that Bama has had just some ghastly losses, Vanderbilt early, Oklahoma late, but that overwhelmed the fact that they won big games against good opposition. I think overwhelmed the committee in favor of them over Miami."

Alabama playoff ranking explained by CFP chair

The uproar caused by the Alabama Crimson Tide being ranked No. 11 was explained by the CFP committee chair, Warde Manuel, during the College Football Playoff rankings show on Tuesday.

Manuel broke down the reasons why the committee opted to rank Bama higher than the two-loss Miami Hurricanes.

"Obviously we think highly of both teams," Manuel said. "One is at 11, one is at 12. But what it really came down to is Alabama is 3-1 against current top-25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami is 4-2. Both have had some losses that weren't what they wanted out of those games, but in the last three games, Miami has lost twice. So for us, in evaluating their body of work, we felt that Alabama got the edge over Miami."

There was good news for Bama fans as Manuel revealed that he did not envision the bracket changing for the at-large bid. The one spot is coveted by coach Mario Cristobal's Hurricanes, Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss Rebels and Shane Beamer's South Carolina Gamecocks, all of whom have been lobbying for their teams in the media.

"Those who are not playing, we will not adjust those teams, because they don't have another data point, obviously," Manuel said. "Any team that is not playing right now, we don't have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranked."

The Crimson Tide were also the last team to controversially sneak into last year's four-team College Football Playoff bracket ahead of the unbeaten Florida State Seminoles, who won the ACC Championship Game and were still dropped.