What is Alabama's CFP Ranking Ceiling? Just a Minute

The Crimson Tide came in at No. 10 in the latest rankings, but how high will the committee put Alabama at the end of the season?

Jalen Milroe scores at touchdown at LSU / Alabama Athletics

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring BamaCentral's Alabama beat writers. Multiple times a week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the above video as BamaCentral's Katie Windham and Joe Gaither discuss Alabama's ceiling in the College Football Playoff rankings if the Crimson Tide wins out.

Alabama moved up one spot in the College Football Playoff rankings to No. 10 after beating LSU last Saturday. Despite two losses earlier this season, the Crimson Tide control its destiny to make it into the CFP with the expanded 12-team field, but Alabama has a lot less control over how high it can be seeded in the final rankings.

In the new format, the top-four seeds will go to the four highest-rated conference champions with the five highest-rated conference champions getting automatic bids. The remaining seven teams will receive at-large bids. The top four teams get a first-round bye, while 5-8 will host 9-12 on campus in the first round.

Here's a look at the top 12 in the latest rankings:

1. Oregon (10-0)
2. Ohio State (8-1)
3. Texas (8-1)
4. Penn State (8-1)
5. Indiana (10-0)
6. BYU (9-0)
7. Tennessee (8-1)
8. Notre Dame (8-1)
9. Miami (9-1)
10. Alabama (8-2)
11. Ole Miss (8-2)
12. Georgia (7-2)

If Alabama wins out and has the opportunity to compete for and win the SEC Championship game, the Crimson Tide would likely be the 2-seed behind the winner of the Big Ten. But if Alabama does not get to play in the SEC title game because of the way the tiebreakers end up, it's going to be challenging for the Tide to move up far enough to host a first-round game because of the teams ahead of it.

Ohio State and Indiana will go head-to-head this week, but whichever team loses will probably still be ahead of the Crimson Tide. Penn State and Notre Dame both have relatively easy schedules remaining to close out the regular season and will not play in a conference championship game. Tennessee and Georgia go head-to-head this weekend, but that's where things get tricky because Alabama has a win over Georgia, but Tennessee has the win over Alabama.

But trying to make any predictions with three full weeks of the regular season still to go is futile because anything can happen in college football in the month of November. Alabama will be rooting for chaos this month to continue climbing in the rankings and get to a place where it can either host a first-round game or get the first-round bye.

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