The College Football Playoff selection committee showed its high regard for Alabama in two ways this week: by again ranking the Crimson Tide No. 1 and by dropping LSU only four spots to No. 7 despite a 29-0 loss at home to 'Bama.
Such respect for the defending national champion inspires this question: Could Alabama make the four-team playoff even if it loses to underdog Georgia in the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 1?
"It looks like there could be a way," said Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl president Gary Stokan, a close observer of the playoff selection process.
"In that case, you could get two SEC teams in the playoff, Georgia and Alabama," Stokan said. "And if you had two SEC teams, plus (current No. 2-ranked) Clemson and (No. 3) Notre Dame, you'd be leaving three conferences _ the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 _ out of the playoff, which would really be an interesting sight."
And a controversy for the ages would sweep across three conferences.
First things first: A prerequisite to put that scenario in play would be for Alabama and Georgia to win their three remaining regular-season games.
If that happens, and if Georgia then secures a playoff spot by upsetting Alabama in a close game, Stokan thinks a one-loss SEC runner-up Alabama could be chosen for the playoff ahead of a one-loss Big Ten champ Michigan (this week's No. 4-ranked team) based on the Crimson Tide's season-long dominance on offense and defense.
Or maybe not. Faced with a choice between two one-loss teams, the selection committee could well settle on a conference championship as the deciding factor.
For its part, the committee doesn't pontificate, publicly or privately, about what-ifs, of which there are many.
"We don't project," said committee chairman Rob Mullens, the athletic director at Oregon. "We are laser-focused on only doing our work through the results to date. We don't look ahead."
Alabama reached the playoff in each of the event's first four seasons _ three times as SEC champion and last season despite not reaching the SEC Championship game. A one-loss Alabama team got the final playoff berth over Big Ten champion Ohio State last season, but the Buckeyes had two losses at the time.
Georgia is ranked No. 5 this week, one spot behind Michigan, and is widely expected to move into the top four if it sweeps its final three regular-season games (Auburn, UMass, Georgia Tech) and beats Alabama.
"Georgia does control its own destiny," Stokan said.
On to the rest of our weekly update of college football's road to the playoff:
