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Alabama football College Football Playoff rankings: CFP poll before SEC Championship Game

Nick Kelly, Tuscaloosa News
·2 min read

This week marks the last when the College Football Playoff rankings don't truly matter. That all changes Sunday.

On Tuesday night, the CFP committee released its fifth playoff rankings heading into conference-championship weekend. Alabama football was ranked No. 8 once again.

Teams ahead of the Crimson Tide such as No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Florida State, No. 5 Oregon and No. 7 Texas continue to find ways to win. So that has translated to minimal wiggle room, even as Alabama has rattled off 10 straight wins. Ohio State fell after the loss to No. 2 Michigan, but the Buckeyes still are ranked higher than Alabama at No. 6.

It became clear weeks ago that likely the only path to the Crimson Tide (11-1) reaching the four-team playoff is to beat No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. Nick Saban's squad will have that opportunity on Saturday (3 p.m., CBS) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

There's no guarantee that Alabama still makes the playoff even if it beats Georgia, but it would be tough for the committee to leave the one-loss SEC champion who has the best win (Georgia) and best loss (Texas).

No two-loss team has ever made the four-team field, and that is not expected to change this season. Next year, the playoff will expand to 12 teams.

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College Football Playoff rankings: Nov. 28

  1. Georgia

  2. Michigan

  3. Washington

  4. Florida State

  5. Oregon

  6. Ohio State

  7. Texas

  8. Alabama

  9. Missouri

  10. Penn State

  11. Ole Miss

  12. Oklahoma

  13. LSU

  14. Louisville

  15. Arizona

  16. Iowa

  17. Notre Dame

  18. Oklahoma State

  19. NC State

  20. Oregon State

  21. Tennessee

  22. Tulane

  23. Clemson

  24. Liberty

  25. Kansas State

Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men's basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: College Football Playoff rankings: Where Alabama football ranks Nov. 28