Where Alabama stands in fourth College Football Playoff rankings of 2021

Alabama survived a scare against Arkansas over the weekend, but it couldn’t avoid losing ground in the latest release of the College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night. The Crimson Tide fell to No. 3 in the rankings as Ohio State jumped ahead for the No. 2 spot behind No. 1 Georgia while Cincinnati moved up to No. 4.

"Two great teams, both Ohio State and Alabama," said CFP selection committee chair Gary Barta on ESPN's telecast of the rankings. "Both of them have Heisman Trophy at quarterback. This past week though, the dominating win [for Ohio State] over Michigan State certainly got the committee's attention. The offense of Ohio State just with total domination and defense is playing much better. And they've been playing better week after week. They beat Penn State, they beat Purdue.

"Alabama's still a great football team, they have a wonderful win over Ole Miss. The last few weeks, just not showing as much domination on defense. So two great teams, but when the vote came down Ohio State came ahead of Alabama."

At the moment, No. 5 Michigan and No. 6 Notre Dame are the first two teams on the outside of the playoff picture. Oregon dropped eight spots to No. 11 following its blowout loss to Utah over the weekend. Meanwhile, Michigan State fell five spots to No. 12 after being blown out by Ohio State.

Alabama now has a top-10 win on its resume as Ole Miss moved up three places to No. 9. The Tide will get a chance to add another top-10 win next week as it faces off against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 4. Before that, Alabama will wrap up its regular season by traveling to Auburn for a 2:30 p.m. CT kickoff Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

This season’s College Football Playoff semifinal games will be held on Dec. 31. The two designated semifinal bowl games are the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas and the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Fla. The national championship game will be held on Jan. 10 inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The fifth edition of the CFP rankings will be released next Tuesday (Nov. 30) at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.

1. Georgia (11-0)

2. Ohio State (10-1)

3. Alabama (10-1)

4. Cincinnati (11-0)

5. Michigan (10-1)

6. Notre Dame (10-1)

7. Oklahoma State (10-1)

8. Baylor (9-2)

9. Ole Miss (9-2)

10. Oklahoma (10-1)

11. Oregon (9-2)

12. Michigan State (9-2)

13. BYU (9-2)

14. Wisconsin (8-3)

15. Texas A&M (8-3)

16. Iowa (9-2)

17. Pittsburgh (9-2)

18. Wake Forest (9-2)

19. Utah (8-3)

20. N.C. State (8-3)

21. San Diego State (10-1)

22. UTSA (11-0)

23. Clemson (8-3)

24. Houston (10-1)

25. Arkansas (7-4)