Here’s everything you need to know about the College Football Playoff hopes for the Alabama Crimson Tide and how they can get in.
It’s Championship Saturday and four spots are up for grabs to make the College Football Playoff. The top four entering Saturday’s conference championship games are Clemson, Auburn, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. Should all four of those four teams win today, then all four are going to make the playoff. It’s as simple and as complicated as that. However, if one of those four teams slips and loses on Saturday, it’ll open the door for No. 5 Alabama to sneak in the back door despite winning their conference championship.
Then again, it’s not entirely that cut and dry, so let’s breakdown the scenarios that Alabama needs to unfold for the Crimson Tide to make it back to the playoff.
Auburn needs to win the SEC Championship Game over Georgia.
Alabama’s one loss on the season came to Auburn, the hottest team in the nation who moved up from No. 6 to No. 2 after beating then-No. 1 Alabama. If Alabama wants to get in the top four, they’ll need their loss to hold up as a quality one, so they need the team that beat them to look as good as possible. You won’t find any Alabama fans publically cheering for Auburn, but that’s what they need to have a chance at a national championship. Auburn does have a 23-point win over Georgia only three weeks ago, so they have that going for them.
Oklahoma loses to TCU
Oklahoma is ranked No. 3 and plays No. 11 TCU in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Sooners already have a win over the Horned Frogs, an 18-point victory at that, so an upset may not be in the cards. Should TCU pull off the upset, I’m hesitant to put them in the field, and think the committee would have their reservations as well, so the door is open for a non-champion like Alabama to sneak in.
Wisconsin loses to Ohio State
Alabama needs either Oklahoma or Wisconsin to lose, because if Clemson loses to Miami, one or both of those teams have the chance to get in over Alabama. So this takes us to the Big Ten Championship Game where undefeated Wisconsin takes on a two-loss Ohio State team. The Buckeyes are a 6.5-point favorite and if they do get the win, this is where the total chaos can ensue. Ohio State has two losses, one by 15 vs. Oklahoma and a 24-55 debacle at Iowa, who finished 7-5. There has never been a playoff team that had one such defeat let alone a 31-point loss.
The argument for Alabama getting in over a conference champion like Ohio State would be just how Ohio State got in last year. The Buckeyes didn’t win their conference last year, but made the playoff over Penn State, who beat the Buckeyes en route to the Big Ten title, but the Nittany Lions had a blowout loss to Michigan on their resume. Ohio State could be held out by the same thought process that put them in last year.
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Alabama is the one team that doesn’t control their destiny on Saturday, so Crimson Tide fans need a couple things to go their way, but it’s certainly possible they hear their name called when the playoff is revealed on Sunday afternoon.