Getty Image / Todd Kirkland
You would be wrong if you think there isn’t a chance College Playoff Committee would put a one-loss Alabama team in the Playoff. While the Tide’s loss to LSU certainly makes Alabama’s chances much slimmer to sneak into the Playoff at the end of the season, there’s still a chance.
After all, this is Nick Saban and Alabama we’re talking about here, never say never. Also, this is college football we’re talking about, so many things can change between now and the end of the year.
Alabama fell from No. 3 to No. 5 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings following its loss to the Tigers. Undefeated LSU now owns the tiebreaker over one-loss Alabama in the SEC West if it were to lose one of its final three games of the year – which is unlikely – meaning Alabama’s chances to play in Atlanta for an SEC Championship are slim to none while LSU’s ticket is practically punched.
With that being said, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit still thinks there’s a way the Tide could sneak into the final spot for the Playoff as he discussed on Sportscenter.
“We’re just trying to figure out who eventually would be that fourth team. Alabama’s case would be, you can’t look at resume and you can’t necessarily look at a big marquee win. You’d have to just say, ‘You’ve got Tua and those receivers and you’re better than every team you’ve played.’ That’s how they won it two years ago and that would be the only leg they have to stand on.”
It goes without saying that Alabama will have to win it’s final three games of the year at Mississippi State, at home to Western Carolina then the Iron Bowl at Auburn to have a chance, but on top of that Herbstreit thinks the committee would have to look at the team’s impressive personnel if say a one-loss Pac 12 champion or a possible one-loss Minnesota is still standing.
The Tide will be hoping for chaos around the country from here on out to ensure a spot in the Playoff for the sixth straight year.
Just looking at this upcoming weekend’s slate, Georgia losing to Auburn and Minnesota losing at Iowa would be huge boosts for the Tide’s chances.
There may be just three weekends of the college football regular season remaining, but there is still so much chaos yet to be unleashed.