College football rankings: What Alabama’s loss to Georgia means for Notre Dame, Miami and more originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Nobody can debate that No. 9 Alabama did not look the part of a conference champion.
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But what about a College Football Playoff team?
No. 3 Georgia beat the Crimson Tide 28-7 in the SEC Championship Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday. It was a dominant performance by the Bulldogs (12-1), who are poised to move up to the No. 2 seed for the second straight year.
That result shifted the College Football Playoff conversation around Alabama (10-3), especially with No. 10 Notre Dame (10-2) and No. 12 Miami (10-2) also in the mix. It’s not just about the third loss; it’s about the significance of the conference championship games as a whole — and whether the SEC will face that reckoning on Sunday as a result. Will that cost the Crimson Tide a playoff spot?
MORE: What BYU’s loss means for the CFP bracket
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Should Alabama be penalized for losing SEC championship game?
This is a potential water-shed moment for conference championship games as a whole. How will the committee weigh an Alabama dud against Georgia? The Crimson Tide have a history of getting the benefit of the doubt.
Texas dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 in the CFP rankings last year after losing the SEC Championship Game, but that was a 22-19 overtime loss.
This game was all Bulldogs.
Georgia’s Cole Speer blocked an Alabama punt with 6:37 left in the first quarter. The Bulldogs converted that into a TD on a pass from Gunner Stockton to Roderick Robinson II. Stockton added a second TD pass to Dillon Bell in the second quarter for a 14-0 lead. Alabama had just 70 total yards in the first half.
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That didn’t stop in the second half. The Bulldogs extended the lead to 21-0 in the third quarter on a 9-yard TD run by Nate Frazier. Alabama finally scored with 12:33 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 23-yard TD pass from Ty Simpson to Germie Bernard. The rest of the scoring was cosmetic at that point.
What is Alabama’s argument for staying in? The Crimson Tide played a 13th game, while No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 12 Miami, and No. 13 Texas did not play on conference championship weekend.
The Crimson Tide still can lean on a 4-1 record against ranked teams this season, which includes a 24-21 head-to-head victory against Georgia on Sept. 27.
It circles back to how the committee will handle how the Crimson Tide lost in the SEC championship game. Would the committee push Alabama out? If they do, then it might sway SEC commissioner Greg Sankey to take a hard look at the enterprise of conference championship games in the CFP 12-team era.
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If a loss by No. 11 BYU (11-2) loss to No. 3 Texas Tech (12-1) – a 34-7 blowout – removes the Cougars from consideration. Nobody harps on that nearly as much. This is the SEC – which already has Georgia and No. 6 Ole Miss (11-1), No. 7 Texas A&M (11-1) and No. 8 Oklahoma (10-2) firmly in the CFP field. If the SEC starts losing playoff teams because of the result of conference championship games, then the nature of their value will change dramatically and in a hurry.
If the CFP field expands to 16 teams, then that might be a good thing. In the present tense, Alabama is going to at minimum fall to the last at-large team in the CFP if No. 17 Virginia wins the ACC championship game. If there is no punishment for losing the game, then why play it in the first place?
MORE: Should Texas get into the CFP over Alabama?
Notre Dame, Miami playoff outlooks
The Irish benefit the most. Notre Dame should leap-frog Alabama in the CFP rankings, and we believe that Notre Dame moves up to the No. 9 seed – where it was before last week – and plays a road game in the first round of the CFP.
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Miami has a compelling case to jump the Crimson Tide, too. The Hurricanes did not play in the ACC championship game. This becomes the argument now. Miami did beat No. 18 Florida State 28-22 on Oct. 4. Alabama lost 31-17 to Florida State on Aug. 30.
The Hurricanes – and even No. 13 Texas – are going to get vocal all the way into the College Football Playoff rankings – and perhaps beyond. Miami did not play for an ACC championship game, but their two losses are by a combined total of nine points. Texas also has three losses – including a 14-7 loss to No. 1 Ohio State – that would put them in that final debate, too. The Longhorns suffered a 35-10 loss at Georgia on Nov. 15, so it’s kind of a conflicting argument. Texas still will be on the outside looking in.
One of Alabama, Miami, and Notre Dame is going to be squeezed out. Depending on the result of the ACC Championship Game, the final debate for the CFP committee should come down to Alabama and Miami. Will the Crimson Tide slip out of the CFP at Miami’s expense?
Our gut reaction, despite the result, is no. Alabama will fall to No. 10, and Miami will be No. 11 — the first team out of the CFP. The Cavaliers or Sun Belt champion James Madison could be in the field despite being outside the top 12 in the rankings.
