Where Alabama ranks in the initial 2023 College Football Playoff rankings
Alabama will begin November four spots outside the playoff picture. The Crimson Tide came in at No. 8 in the initial release of this year’s College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night. Alabama is the third-highest one-loss team in the rankings behind No. 7 Texas and No. 6 Oregon.
Ohio State took the top spot in the rankings, followed by Georgia, Michigan and Florida State. The first team out of the playoff in the current rankings would be No. 5 Washington.
Alabama’s lone loss this season came to Texas as the Longhorns beat the Crimson Tide 34-24 inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama’s two best wins are against No. 10 Ole Miss (24-10) and No. 17 Tennessee (34-20), both occurring at home.
The Tide will get an opportunity to add to its resume this weekend as it hosts No. 14 LSU at 6:45 p.m. CT on Saturday. The winner of that game will be in the driver’s seat to claim the SEC West title.
LSU will likely be Alabama’s last ranked opponent until a potential matchup in the SEC Championship Game. Following this week’s game against the Tigers, the Crimson Tide will travel to Kentucky on Nov. 11 before hosting Tennessee-Chattanooga for its final home game a week later. From there, the Tide wrap up its season at Auburn on Nov. 25.
The two semifinal games for this season's playoff will be the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Both will take place on Jan. 1. The national championship game will be played in Houston's NRG Stadium on Jan. 8.
The second of the College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
College Football Playoff rankings
1. Ohio State (8-0)
2. Georgia (8-0)
3. Michigan (8-0)
4. Florida State (8-0)
5. Washington (8-0)
6. Oregon (7-1)
7. Texas (7-1)
8. Alabama (7-1)
9. Oklahoma (7-1)
10. Ole Miss (7-1)
11. Penn State (7-1)
12. Missouri (7-1)
13. Louisville (7-1)
14. LSU (6-2)
15. Notre Dame (7-2)
16. Oregon State (6-2)
17. Tennessee (6-2)
18. Utah (6-2)
19. UCLA (6-2)
20. Southern California (7-2)
21. Kansas (6-2)
22. Oklahoma State (6-2)
23. Kansas State (6-2)
24. Tulane (7-1)
25. Air Force (8-0)