Skip to main content
Join Now
Team Avatar
Alabama

Josh Pate predicts Alabama will be top four seed in College Football Playoff with win in SEC Championship

IMG_0985by: Griffin McVeigh2 hours agogriffin_mcveigh

College Football Playoff scenarios are flying off the walls heading into conference championship weekend. Many involve who exactly gets into the 12-team field, while some focus on seeding come Selection Sunday. Josh Pate is one of them on Thursday’s episode of Josh Pate’s College Football Show, talking about Alabama if they were to win the SEC Championship game.

Alabama currently finds itself at No. 9, flip-flopping with Notre Dame in the latest rankings. So, if Kalen DeBoer were to lift a trophy in Atlanta, how high could they get? Pate says all the way into the realm of earning a first-round bye.

“What happens if Bama wins?” Pate asked. “Blowout game, close game. They’re No. 9 right now. I’ve heard some people I respect who say they don’t think Bama can jump up past No. 5 and I completely disagree. Not only do I disagree — I think if they win by one point over Georgia, they’re going to be a top-four seed and have a first-round bye.”

All four teams directly in front of Alabama are idle on Saturday. Texas Tech is set to play in the Big 12 Championship, hoping to secure a bye of its own. No. 1 Ohio State faces No. 2 Indiana in the Big Ten Championship. And then there is Georgia, the Crimson Tide’s opponent.

Multiple scenarios play out from there, assuming Alabama wins. More than anything, Pate says it’s about the message the CFP committee would be sending by making Alabama play in the first round. After all, they will be wearing crimson inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“To suggest anything other than that would be telling the SEC’s one-seed, even though they’re ranked behind Georgia, they are technically the one seed. ‘You just won the conference as the one-seed but we’re not going to vault you up there.'”

No matter what takes place on Friday and Saturday, there are going to be some tough decisions to make. Plenty of people are going to be angry no matter what the committee does when it comes to who gets in or how the seeding looks.

Pate appears pretty confident in one thing, though. Alabama is going to watch eight teams play on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20 while enjoying a bye. Before then, getting the job done in the SEC Championship is required. Doing so also brings a third-straight win over Kirby Smart for Kalen DeBoer.