Heather Dinich reacts to Alabama falling behind Notre Dame in latest CFP ranking
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Everyone knew the Crimson Tide were going to fall in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings following their loss to Oklahoma. It was the height of the drop that caught most by surprise.
Alabama wound up at No. 10 in this week’s CFP rankings, sliding 6 spots from a week ago. The Crimson Tide are now looking up at the “Big 4” 1-loss teams (Georgia, Texas Tech, Ole Miss, and Oregon) and Oklahoma. But they’re also behind Notre Dame, which leads ESPN’s Heather Dinich to believe the Fighting Irish have all but sealed their CFP berth.
“The fact that Notre Dame is ranked ahead of Alabama leads me to believe that if they run the table, they are the closest thing to a lock,” Dinich said Wednesday morning on Get Up. “And that’s because the committee rewarded the Irish because they have better losses than Alabama.”
Marcus Freeman and Co. have lost to Texas A&M (No. 3) and Miami (No. 13). Kalen DeBoer and his bunch lost to Oklahoma and unranked Florida State, so there’s no dispute about who has the “better losses.”
But as Dinich pointed out, the Fighting Irish’s victories simply don’t compare with the Crimson Tide’s. She mentioned that Alabama has “4 wins over CFP top-20 teams, including the committee’s No. 4 team in Georgia.” Notre Dame’s lone win over a currently ranked CFP team is No. 15 USC.
The Crimson Tide’s placement leaves them vulnerable to being bounced if BYU — or another team — knocks off Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game. But Alabama can’t fret about what could be. It simply has to handle business against Eastern Illinois and Auburn. Otherwise, the Crimson Tide will miss the CFP altogether. Kickoff for this weekend’s game versus the Panthers is 2:00 p.m. ET (SEC Network+).
