Alabama's Playoff Path Continues to Strengthen, Take Shape

The Crimson Tide still needs help to return to the College Football Playoff, but not very much heading into championship week.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It's time to start scoreboard watching. 

With the Alabama Crimson Tide thumping Auburn 49-27 to wrap up the regular season at 10-2, its resume for College Football Playoff consideration is complete. It Includes three wins against ranked teams, plus a narrow victory at Texas, and two losses on the last-play at brutally-difficult venues. 

Will it be enough? 

It might, but we won't know for at least a few days. 

However, this week's results have the Crimson Tide on the doorstep. 

"We could have easily won both games but didn't," Nick Saban said. "We're a good football team and hopefully people will recognize that and we'll get a chance."

The short version is this: Alabama fans needed to be rooting big-time against any team ahead of it in the rankings that's known for its initials, LSU, TCU, and USC.

Now for the much longer explanation, which thankfully isn't as chaotic as the Heisman Trophy chase: 

At No. 7 heading into the weekend, Alabama needed help and No. 8 Clemson not to be able to potentially leapfrog. 

It got both. 

For the second straight week, South Carolina came to the rescue, to the point that it should at least result in a Christmas card from Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne. After routing and eliminating Tennessee from playoff consideration last week, it ended the ACC's fledgling hopes by winning at Clemson, 31-30.

It also made it highly unlikely that another team could jump ahead of Alabama (Oregon, Tennessee, Penn State, etc.) with a conference championship-game win. 

So it's just a matter of how many teams ahead of it stumble.

The key was No. 5 LSU. It needed to lose, either at Texas A&M on Saturday or against No. 1 Georgia next week in the SEC Championship Game. The Tigers beat the Christmas rush and got it out of the way. 

With the 38-23 upset by the Aggies, three-loss LSU was not longer in contention, and it made Alabama the SEC's second team in the rankings. That's an important distinction because three teams from the same conference would have been a real reach under any circumstance.

Alabama also needed the Michigan at Ohio State game to not be close, and it wasn't. The Wolverines pulled off an impressive 45-23 victory, it's first win in Columbus since 2000. 

No. 2 Ohio State (11-1) losing by three-plus touchdowns might have done in the Buckeyes. On the plus side for them, there's a season-opening 21-10 win against Notre Dame, and the 44-31 victory at Penn State — which is the one it really has to hang its hat on. 

The Fighting Irish had a new coach and struggled initially, losing the subsequent week to Marshall. Penn State was No. 13 at the time, and heading into this weekend was No. 11. Is that enough to keep Ohio State over Alabama? Probably not. 

Nevertheless, it'll be an interesting discussion for the selection committee before releasing this week's rankings on Tuesday night. 

No. 4 TCU beat up on Iowa State and plays in the Big 12 Championship Game next week, against No. 12 Kansas State if it holds off Kansas. With five wins against ranked foes, including Texas, the Horned Frogs could conceivably stay ahead of Alabama should it lose next week, but it all could come down to the eye test. 

Alabama was ahead of TCU in the initial rankings, before it lost at LSU. 

At the time, selection committee chair Boo Corrigan said: "We're looking at the totality of the game as we go through it. But again, you're looking for that -- Alabama has got the dominant wins over Mississippi State, at Arkansas, the close win at Texas. Bryce Young missed the Texas A&M game, which was close, and again, TCU with the wins against Oklahoma State at home and Kansas State at home, really good wins, really good team. But we felt like the defense struggled to keep points off the board at times, but it doesn't take away from the season they've had thus far."

No. 6 USC (10-1) defeated No. 15 Notre Dame on Saturday night and still has the Pac-12 Championship Game against No. 14 Utah. The Utes won the regular-season meeting at home, 43-42, on Oct. 15. 

Previously, last week's 48-45 victory against then-No. 16 UCLA was the the Trojans' only win against a ranked team this season.

But both they and the Frogs are probably looking at a win-and-in situation. 

Two things that are not supposed to factor into the decision process, but might help the Crimson Tide's cause is Nick Saban's playoff record at Alabama, and the obvious appeal of seeing a potential rematch of last year's national championship, with the Crimson Tide squaring off against Georgia again in Atlanta. 

See Also:

Bryce Young's Legacy is a Memory that Won't Fade Anytime Soon

'This is All We Have, But This is all We Need' Personifies This Alabama Team

Three Years Later, Will Anderson's Gamble Pays Off with Legendary Crimson Tide Career

Confidence Was Obvious for Alabama in Iron Bowl Victory

Auburn HC Cadillac Williams: "We Didn't Get It Done"

Everything Nick Saban Said After Alabama Won the Iron Bowl

Everything Interim Coach Cadillac Williams Said After Auburn's Loss at Alabama

Instant Analysis: No. 7 Alabama Football 49, Auburn 27 at the Iron Bowl

Notebook: Saban Leaves Iron Bowl With Bloody Cheek

No. 7 Alabama Wins Iron Bowl over Auburn, 49-27

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