Alabama falls in latest College Football Playoff rankings

Alabama’s postseason hopes took a hit, but the College Football Playoff committee didn’t completely deal the Crimson Tide a death blow Tuesday night. Alabama dropped six places down to No. 13 in the rankings following its 24-3 loss to Oklahoma over the weekend.

While Alabama is currently sitting one spot out of the top 12, it will need additional help to make it into the playoff picture, as the Big 12 champion would bump the Tide as the fifth-highest conference winner.

Oregon held onto its No. 1 rankings and was followed by No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Penn State, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Miami, No. 7 Georgia, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 9 SMU, No. 10 Indiana and No. 11 Boise State and No. 12 Clemson. Currently, No. 16 Arizona State would be in the playoff as the highest-rated Big 12 team

The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded 1-4 and will also receive a first-round bye. In the current rankings, that would make Texas the No. 2 seed, Miami the No. 3 seed and Boise State the No. 4 seed while bumping Ohio State and Penn State from the first-round bye.

Teams seeded 5-12 will face off in the first round with the better seed hosting on its college campus. As the playoff picture stands now, those matchups would include:

No. 12 seed Arizona State at No. 5 seed Ohio State

No. 11 seed Indiana at No. 6 seed Penn State

No. 10 seed SMU at No. 7 seed Notre Dame

No. 9 seed Tennessee at No. 8 seed Georgia.

The four winners of those matchups will move on to face the top four seeds in the quarterfinal finals. Those matchups would include:

No. 12 seed Arizona State/No. 5 seed Ohio State vs. No. 4 Boise State

No. 11 seed Indiana/No. 6 seed Penn State vs. No. 3 Miami

No. 10 SMU/No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Texas

No. 9 Tennessee/No. 8 Georgia vs. No. 1 Oregon.

Of course, these scenarios are guaranteed to change due to conference championship games.

Alabama’s playoff hopes rely on chaos at the top of the rankings. First, the Tide will need to take care of its own business during this weekend’s Iron Bowl. Alabama (8-3, 4-3 in the SEC) will host Auburn (5-6, 2-5) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Tide is currently an 11.5-point favorite in the game, which will be televised on ABC.