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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Entertainment
Daniel Chavkin

CFB World Debates Whether Alabama Will Sneak Into CFP

With No. 4 USC’s loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship game on Friday night, fans are back to debating which teams belong in the College Football Playoff. At the moment, Ohio State’s presence at No. 5 makes them the likely Trojans replacement, but that isn’t a guarantee.

Some fans are not confident in No. 3 TCU beating Kansas State on Saturday, and think a Horned Frogs loss will allow Alabama into the playoff. Others believe the Crimson Tide are better than the Buckeyes, and should be in regardless of what happens the rest of the way. In general, this situation has seemed to cause chaos.

Neither the Crimson Tide nor the Buckeyes are playing this weekend, which seems to benefit them as they don’t face the risk of adding another loss to their resume.

While Alabama hasn’t lost by more than six points this year the committee has yet to allow a two-loss team into the College Football Playoff since the tournament began in 2015. Therefore, even though Ohio State’s blowout loss to Michigan was detrimental, precedent says the Buckeyes will remain above Alabama in the final rankings.

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