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College Football World Flummoxed by Alabama’s CFP Case After Loss to Georgia

The Tide were held scoreless until the fourth quarter in the SEC championship game.

Blake Silverman

Alabama fell to Georgia in the SEC championship game
Alabama fell to Georgia in the SEC championship game / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
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Alabama didn’t leave a good final impression on the College Football Playoff selection committee ahead of the 12-team field getting announced Sunday.

The No. 9 Crimson Tide were trounced by No. 3 Georgia 28-7 in Saturday’s SEC championship game. The Bulldogs held Alabama without a score until the fourth quarter when they were already up by three touchdowns. With bubble teams Notre Dame and Miami sitting at home this weekend, even a close loss to Georgia would likely have kept Alabama safely in the CFP field.

However, a blowout loss makes its case a bit more tricky, especially with one of Notre Dame and Miami getting left out if Alabama is in. There’s also BYU, who lost to Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship Saturday. The Cougars finished 11-2 with their only losses to the Red Raiders. Now at 10-3, the Crimson Tide have to hope their case remains solid in the committee’s eyes. Last week, Alabama jumped ahead of Notre Dame despite both teams winning its regular-season finale. CFP chair Hunter Yurachek said the committee was impressed with how the Tide looked in a win on the road over rival Auburn, who finished the year 5-7.

With that perplexing explanation, Yurachek will likely have even more explaining to do if Alabama remains in the final field. However, there’s the argument that at least the Tide played a game this week with many bubble teams at home. Should Alabama be left out, conference championship games could only become dreaded.

Following the lopsided loss to Georgia, college football fans and personalities had some thoughts on what the CFP selection committee should do with the Tide. Many folks think they have seen enough and the committee should leave Alabama out, while others think the Tide should not be punished for playing their conference championship game:

Last year, the committee famously left Alabama out in favor of SMU, who had a last-second loss in the ACC championship game. We’ll see how the Tide’s loss in the SEC title game impacts this year’s CFP bubble.

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Blake Silverman
BLAKE SILVERMAN

Blake Silverman is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the WNBA, NBA, G League and college basketball for numerous sites, including Winsidr, SB Nation's Detroit Bad Boys and A10Talk. He graduated from Michigan State University before receiving a master's in sports journalism from St. Bonaventure University. Outside of work, he's probably binging the latest Netflix documentary, at a yoga studio or enjoying everything Detroit sports. A lifelong Michigander, he lives in suburban Detroit with his wife, young son and their personal petting zoo of two cats and a dog.

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