Where Alabama stands in initial College Football Playoff rankings of 2022

Alabama came in at No. 6 in the initial release of this year’s College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night. The Crimson Tide is the nation’s highest one-loss team, trailing No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Clemson and No. 5 Michigan.

Alabama’s only defeat came at the hands of the top-ranked Volunteers, who used a last-second field goal to pull off a 52-49 victory inside Neyland Stadium last month. This week’s rankings raised some eyebrows as the Crimson Tide was ranked a spot ahead of undefeated TCU.

“Alabama’s got the dominant wins over Mississippi State, at Arkansas, the close win at Texas,” said Boo Corrigan, College Football Playoff Selection Committee chair. “Bryce Young missed the Texas A&M game which was close. And you had TCU with the wins against Oklahoma State at home and Kansas State at home. Really good wins, really good teams, but we felt like the defense struggled to keep points off the board at times. But it doesn’t take away from the season they’ve had thus far.”

Alabama is averaging 43.1 points while holding opponents to 16.6 points per game. TCU is averaging 44.3 points but is allowing its opposition 27.3 points per game.

Alabama has one win over a ranked opponent as Texas came in at No. 24 in the rankings. The Crimson Tide survived an upset scare against the Longhorns with a 20-19 victory during its Week 2 trip to Austin. Alabama will look to add to its resume this weekend as it squares off against LSU on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT inside Tiger Stadium.

Despite currently sitting outside of the top four, the Crimson Tide still controls its own destiny as it can clinch a spot in the SEC West with wins over No. 10 LSU and No. 11 Ole Miss the next two weeks. The top four is also set to change over the next month as Tennessee travels to Georgia this week and Ohio State hosts Michigan on Nov. 26.

Alabama has advanced to the College Football Playoff in seven of its eight seasons in existence. The second of the College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. on ESPN.