Alabama Lands at No. 3 Despite Two Losses
The selection committee rewards Alabama's strength of schedule over Tennessee's head-to-head victory, while idle Indiana suffers the largest drop in CFP history.
By Naomi Tesfaye ·
Alabama is now the No. 3 team in college football, a position it holds despite a 7-2 record. The Tide moved up two spots in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, becoming the highest-ranked team in the nation with two losses. This marks the earliest a two-loss team has ever appeared in the committee's top four.
The placement contradicts the results on the field against its direct rival. Tennessee defeated Alabama 26-10 in Neyland Stadium. The Volunteers also beat top-10 Kentucky by four touchdowns on Saturday. Yet Tennessee sits at No. 8, five spots behind Alabama. The gap between the two teams narrowed from eight spots last week to five this week.
Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek cited metrics in explaining the decision. Alabama possesses the No. 1 record strength and No. 1 schedule strength in the country. Yurachek pointed to a victory over Mississippi State as a key factor. The Bulldogs were 4-0 at the time and featured running back Kamario Taylor. "Alabama went there and won that game. Alabama, we believe, deserves to be the No. 3 team in the country," Yurachek said on ESPN.
Notre Dame made the largest jump among the top 10 teams. The Irish moved from No. 11 to No. 5 after defeating previous No. 1 Miami. No team in the history of the CFP rankings had moved from outside the top 10 into the top five in a single week. Despite the win, Notre Dame remains two spots below its ranking in the AP poll.
Indiana dropped five spots to No. 9 despite not playing a game. The Hoosiers took a bye week, and the five-spot fall is the largest drop for an idle team in the 13 seasons of the CFP. The previous record for an idle team was three spots, held by Nebraska in 2014 and Penn State in 2022. Yurachek described the team as "probably a victim of having a bye week at the wrong time."
The committee's rankings diverge sharply from the AP poll for non-SEC teams. All 10 teams ranked lower than their AP counterparts come from outside the Southeastern Conference. These include Boise State, Indiana, USC, Notre Dame, Miami, Texas Tech, and Wake Forest. Nine SEC teams are in the top 25, and seven are ranked higher than in the AP poll.
Missouri is ranked No. 22 despite a 0-5 record against the current top 25. The Tigers lost to unranked Mississippi State, lost 31-3 at Ole Miss, and lost by 14 at home to Texas. The AP voters did not rank the Tigers. Missouri joins South Carolina, Ole Miss, and LSU as three-loss SEC teams in the rankings.
Tennessee remains in a strong position to reach the playoff but appears to have lost its first-round bye. The Vols are 2-2 against the top 25 with wins by a combined 44 points. Their losses came by a combined six points. Alabama has already beaten both of Tennessee's upcoming opponents, Texas A&M and LSU.
Texas Tech sits at No. 12, two spots lower than the AP poll. The Red Raiders are 8-1 and 2-0 against the top 25. Their only loss is a 37-24 defeat at unranked Cincinnati. New Mexico, an 8-1 team that leads the country in scoring defense, remains unranked by the committee for the second straight week.
