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CFP chair Warde Manuel explains why Alabama is ahead of Ole Miss in latest top 25
By Andrew Olson
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Alabama and Ole Miss entered Week 13 well-positioned in the College Football Playoff top 25 to make the field of 12. Upset losses to Oklahoma and Florida, though, drastically changed that outlook.
The Crimson Tide and Rebels are now 3-loss teams heading into Rivalry Week. Neither is in contention to make the SEC Championship Game, leaving at-large bids as the only way into the CFP.
It’s shaping up to be a tight race for the final at-large spots. Entering Rivalry Week, both Alabama and Ole Miss are on the outside looking in, but UA has the upper hand. The Crimson Tide came in at No. 13, with the Rebels at No. 14. With 5 spots going to conference champions, No. 12 Clemson is the first team out in the projected bracket with No. 16 Arizona State taking the 12th seed as the Big 12 champion (current projection as highest-ranked Big 12 team).
After Tuesday’s rankings reveal, CFP chair Warde Manuel was asked directly about the rankings of Alabama and Ole Miss.
“I would say in the committee’s eyes, they’re really similar teams, and they’ve had similar ways that they’ve gone through the season,” Manuel said on a media teleconference.
“Both have had losses that you didn’t expect them to have. Alabama had a loss at Oklahoma, and Oklahoma’s performance was dominant against Alabama, and then you have the loss by Mississippi to Florida at Florida. It was one of those losses that you just don’t expect them to have. It was a close game, but where we evaluated it, we came out with Alabama ahead of Mississippi and South Carolina, since Alabama and Mississippi both won head-to-head against South Carolina.”
Manuel was asked on a follow-up what made Alabama the highest-ranked 3-loss team. The selection committee chair focused on the difference between UA and Ole Miss.
“Because of their win over Georgia,” Manuel said of ranking Alabama as the top 3-loss team. “They won against Missouri. They’ve beat South Carolina and they won at LSU in dominant fashion. When you put those four wins against Mississippi and what they did, they had the win against Georgia and the win at South Carolina, but they had a tough loss to Florida; lost to LSU in overtime.
“So when we compared resumes, that’s how we saw it in terms of the difference between Alabama and Mississippi.”
Kalen DeBoer’s team will hope to remain the top 3-loss team and potentially work its way back into the top 12.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
