Greg McElroy: Alabama is 'comfortably in' College Football Playoff despite SEC Championship loss

With many pundits ready to count Alabama out of the College Football Playoff, Greg McElroy stood up in defense of his alma mater. The former Crimson Tide quarterback was on the call for the ACC Championship on ESPN and argued they should still be in the 12-team field even after losing 28-7 in the SEC Championship against Georgia.

Much of the debate surrounding whether the Crimson Tide should be in has centered on two of the teams behind them in the current rankings: Notre Dame and Miami. Alabama jumped the Fighting Irish to move up to No. 9 in the current week’s rankings.

McElroy is of the theory that the committee moved the Crimson Tide up in case of a loss in the conference title game. He brought up SMU, which made the CFP last season after losing in the ACC Championship against Clemson.

“Yes, I think (moving Alabama up) was (preventative) to an extent, because the committee did this last year,” McElroy said. “Same argument was made on behalf of SMU. They will not be overly penal to a team that is forced to participate in a conference championship game. They do not want to de-incentivize conference championship participation.

“So I think Alabama is comfortably in the field. Might drop down to 10, which is big when it comes to the evaluation between Miami and Notre Dame.”

In SMU’s case, however, it lost by a field goal, 34-31, after a comeback attempt fell short. Alabama lost by three touchdowns Saturday against Georgia.

McElroy was asked whether the fashion in which Alabama lost might be enough to cause the College Football Playoff committee to exclude it from the field and allow No. 12 Miami to surpass it. But the ESPN analyst seems to think the Crimson Tide are still safe, and it’s going to come down to a debate between the Fighting Irish and Hurricanes.

“I wouldn’t say that because if you look at what’s going to likely happen to BYU, they’re probably going to drop down, which could allow Miami to get right next to (Notre Dame),” McElroy said. “So no, I think that was preventative to an extent, but also a correction based on how things have gone for the Crimson Tide this year. 2-2 against Top 25 football teams. That’s the same amount combined for both Miami and Notre Dame. And of course Miami with the head-to-head, that’s going to be the biggest game in college football from a debate standpoint, that Week 1 matchup on Labor Day Sunday.”

Until the committee makes its final announcement Sunday at 12 p.m. ET, we can only imagine the conversations that are taking place among them right now and how the chips will fall. But there are certainly compelling arguments for either side and McElroy is on the Crimson Tide’s.