Why is Alabama ahead of Miami in the CFP rankings? Warde Manuel explains

The final round of the College Football Playoff won’t be officially announced until Sunday, as teams from across the country find out whether their dreams of a national championship, however tenuous they may be in some cases, remain alive.

On Tuesday, however, the playoff selection committee gave a telling hint about which teams are likely to make the field and which will be left out — including some particularly big names with championship-winning histories.

Despite stumbling at times in its first season under coach Kalen DeBoer, Alabama was the No. 11 seed in the playoff committee’s latest Top 25, announced Tuesday night. That puts the Crimson Tide just ahead of No. 12 Miami and No. 13 Ole Miss and No. 14 South Carolina.

Required reading:Ohio State, Alabama lead College Football Playoff winners and losers

None of these teams are playing in conference championship games this weekend, meaning their regular seasons and playoff resumes are complete. But while there’s still a scenario that could keep Alabama out of the 12-team field, the three teams directly behind it are effectively eliminated from the playoffs.

Much of the attention was on Alabama, which had a 9-3 record and beat Miami, 10-2, ranked No. 6 last week but coming off sixth after a 42-38 loss last Saturday to a team from Syracuse dropped places and is now No. 22 in the rankings.

Why exactly did the Crimson Tide displace the hurricanes?

“It really came down to Alabama being 3-1 against current top 25 teams and Miami being 0-1,” playoff selection committee chairman Warde Manuel said in an interview with ESPN after the top 25 was unveiled. Alabama is 6-1 against teams over .500 and Miami is 4-2. Both have had some losses in these games that didn’t live up to their expectations, but in the last three games Miami has lost twice. In evaluating their work, we felt that Alabama had an advantage over Miami.”

Miami began the season 9-0 and rose to No. 4 in the selection committee rankings before losing two of its final three games – losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse that were decided by a combined nine points. Behind quarterback Cam Ward, one of the top contenders for the Heisman Trophy, the Hurricanes have the No. 1 offense in the FBS, averaging 44.2 points per game.

Although there is no win over a current top 25 team, as Manuel cited, Miami does have wins against two teams, Duke and Louisville, that received votes in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll and have a combined record as of 7/17.

Required reading:College Football Playoff Rankings: Ohio State slips, Miami falls behind Alabama

Alabama earned one of its most impressive wins of the season, a 41-34 home victory over then-No. 1 Georgia on Sept. 28, but also lost to two 6-6 teams in Vanderbilt and Oklahoma.

While Manuel, the Michigan athletic director, said the committee will “accurately evaluate” the results of championship games, it will “not adjust” for teams like Alabama and Miami that don’t play in league title games because “they haven’t.” . another data point.”

Based on the latest rankings, it looks like the only result that could potentially knock Alabama out of the playoffs is a loss by No. 8 SMU to No. 17 Clemson in the ACC championship game. Such a result would put Dabo Swinney and the Tigers on the field, while the Mustangs might not fall far enough to fall behind the Crimson Tide.

Why is Alabama ahead of Miami in the CFP rankings? Warde Manuel explains

ByAmelia Journalton

By Amelia Journalton

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