The Alabama Crimson Tide learned their 2024 College Football Playoff fate after the selection committee released its final CFP rankings Sunday.
The Crimson Tide (9-3 overall) were ranked No. 11 in the final rankings and did not qualify for the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff. The final at-large berth that Alabama had been hoping to grab went to the ACC’s SMU Mustangs (11-2).
Even with three losses, it took a perfect storm of sorts for the selection committee to keep Alabama out of the playoffs.
Despite ugly losses to the Vanderbilt Commodores (40-35) and Oklahoma Sooners (24-3), Kalen DeBoer’s team went into championship weekend Saturday needing either SMU to defeat the Clemson Tigers in the ACC Championship Game — or for Dabo Swinney’s Tigers to win big against a Mustangs team who had an inferior schedule compared to Alabama’s.
Alabama’s strength of schedule is rated No. 16 by ESPN’s College Football Power Index (FPI). SMU’s strength of schedule is rated No. 60.
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Neither one happened. In what was previously described as a “doomsday scenario” for Alabama, SMU fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter against Clemson and trailed 31-14 heading into the fourth quarter at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
Kevin Jennings rallied the Mustangs from 17 points down, only for Clemson to win as time expired on a 56-yard game-winning field goal from kicker Nolan Hauser. Final score: Clemson 34, SMU 31.
With Alabama out of the CFP for only the third time since the playoff’s four-team inception in 2014, the Crimson Tide now await their bowl game destination, as well as which players will invariably enter the transfer portal amid roster attrition.
One bowl option for Alabama is the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Another is the ReliaQuest Bowl (formerly the Outback Bowl) in Tampa.
The top four seeds in the final CFP rankings were the No. 1 seed Oregon Ducks, No. 2 seed Georgia Bulldogs, No. 3…
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