With no opponent on the schedule this week, the topics surrounding Alabama have strayed from the football field. Among those is the upcoming initial release of the College Football Playoff rankings which is set to be unveiled next Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Alabama (7-1, 5-0 in the SEC) is currently ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press top 25 and is expected to receive a similar placement in the initial CFP rankings, depending on how this weekend’s games play out.

While the Crimson Tide likely won't be one of the top four teams in next week’s rankings, it should still be in a position to climb its way into the playoff picture, provided it wins the remainder of its games and claims the SEC title. However, no team has ever made the playoff with two losses, so Alabama’s Week 2 defeat to Texas means the Tide has little margin for error moving forward.

During his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban was asked about that and how he feels about where his team stands heading into first CFP rankings.

“I don’t really care much about the rankings right now because they really don’t matter unless you win the next game,” Saban said. “They really don’t matter unless you win the next game after that. So you’ve got to stay focused on sort of the here and now in terms of trying to do everything you can do on the front end to make sure your team is playing the best in the next game.”

Last year, Alabama missed out on the College Football Playoff after suffering a pair of last-play losses at Tennessee and LSU. At the time, Saban campaigned for his team’s inclusion, stating he felt they were one of the four best teams.

Thursday, Saban reiterated that belief while stating there should be more emphasis on the difficulty of a team’s schedule rather than just wins and losses.

“I think they should put more emphasis on strength of schedule, who you play, how many top teams you played and beat, however it might be, so that you get the best teams in the game,” Saban said. “I’m not sure there’s so much public sentiment for making sure you that you win your conference championship or whatever. I think when you go to 12 teams, you’ll definitely get all the best teams in, but right now it can be a little bit hit or miss.”

According to ESPN, Alabama has the seventh-best strength of schedule this year. That being said, parity in the SEC this season might see teams in the conference beat up on each other, muddying up the Tide’s resume moving forward. Wednesday, Saban spoke about the perception that the SEC is in a down year, stating he thinks the competition inside the conference is as tough as ever.

“I think the SEC is better from top to bottom this year,” Saban said. “I don’t know about the top, but the difference between the best team and the 10th or 11th team is a lot closer than it has been in a lot of other years.”

Alabama will host LSU on Nov. 4 before traveling to Kentucky on Nov. 11. The Tide will then hold its final home game against Tennessee-Chattanooga on Nov. 18 before traveling to Auburn on Nov. 25 for the Iron Bowl.