Alabama was left out of the College Football Playoff for the third time since its establishment in 2014. The Crimson Tide finished No. 11 in the final rankings but missed out on the 12-team field after being jumped by Big 12 Champion Arizona State (No. 12 ) and ACC champion Clemson (No. 16).

Alabama (9-3) missed out on the final at-large spot, as the committee awarded it to No. 10 SMU (11-2). The Mustangs lost the ACC Championship Game on Saturday night, falling, 34-31, to Clemson on a 56-yard field goal as time expired.

Alabama has three wins over ranked teams, including SEC champion No. 2 Georgia as well as No. 15 South Carolina and No. 19 Missouri. Meanwhile, SMU does not have a ranked win on its resume and has lost to the only two ranked teams it has played (No. 16 Clemson and No. 17 BYU). Alabama has the No. 16 ranked strength of schedule, while SMU ranks No. 60.

Following the reveal of this year’s playoff bracket, College Football Playoff chair Warde Manuel explained to ESPN why the committee selected SMU over Alabama.

“We looked at the number of wins that Alabama had against ranked opponents,” Manuel said on ESPN. “We looked at SMU’s schedule, and they were undefeated in conference. Their losses were to ranked teams. But we also looked at Alabama’s loss to unranked teams, and it was quite a debate.

“I mean, we value strength of schedule. That’s why Alabama, as a three-loss team, is ranked ahead of other teams that have two losses. It is something that we talk about quite a bit. But in the balance of it, in the way SMU played in that game, losing on the last-second field goal, great win by Clemson, great game. We just felt that in this particular case, SMU still had the nod at 10 above Alabama.

“But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule. It’s merely looking at the entire body of work for both teams.”