Playoff committee chair explains why Alabama jumped Notre Dame

The penultimate College Football Playoff rankings were unveiled on Tuesday evening, and Alabama jumped ahead of Notre Dame to claim the No. 9 spot. That gives the Crimson Tide some breathing room for the SEC Championship Game against now-No. 3 Georgia.

A loss in Atlanta might have made Selection Sunday uncomfortable for Alabama, but based on the committee’s latest rankings, the Tide should be in, barring a blowout for the Bulldogs.

CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek explained why Alabama leap-frogged Notre Dame.

“I will tell you the debate between Alabama and Notre Dame over the past three weeks has been one of the strongest debates we’ve had in the room for the past two years that I’ve been a member of the committee,” Yurachek told ESPN. “I think this week, as we looked at those two teams and how closely they have been over the past three weeks, Notre Dame went on the road, had a strong win at Stanford. 

“But Alabama went on the road in a rivalry game, looked really good, especially in the first half, getting up 17-0, ran the ball well. Auburn came back at them. They had a great gutsy call on 4th and 2 late in the third quarter to get a touchdown, and then got the turnover late in that game. And I think that was enough to change the minds of a couple of committee members to push Alabama up ahead of Notre Dame in this week’s rankings.”

The change led ESPN’s Rece Davis to ask Yurachek whether the committee moved Alabama up because it didn’t want to leave the potential loser of the SEC Championship Game out of the 12-team field in the event that, say, BYU wins the Big 12. Did that come up in the room?

“It did not, Rece,” Yurachek said. “We will evaluate the results of the championship game after they are all completed over the weekend.”

Alabama is still ranked behind No. 8 Oklahoma, as the Sooners defeated the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa last month. Based on the current rankings, No. 9 Alabama would travel to Norman, Okla., for a first-round rematch. Head-to-head still mattered there, but it didn’t at Nos. 10 and 11, as Notre Dame was ranked ahead of Miami. The Hurricanes beat the Fighting Irish.

Neither Notre Dame nor Miami will play on conference championship weekend, which led Davis to ask Yurachek if the idle teams could flip spots or if they are set relative to one another. 

“The management committee, during the offseason, provided some clarification to some comments that were made last year, and indeed, idle teams can move following the results of the championship games and how they impact the teams that are around those that play in the championship game and data such as strength of scheduled teams that may be idle,” Yurachek. “So yes, teams that are idle can move up or down.” 

Alabama has two wins over teams currently ranked in the top 25 (Georgia and Vanderbilt). BYU also has two wins, while Notre Dame and Miami have one apiece after the regular season.

While the penultimate rankings raised eyebrows, there is still one more list of top 25 to go. The final rankings and bracket will be revealed on Sunday, December 7, at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.

“Following the championship games, we will re-rank the top 25 teams, and we’ll see where they fall,” Yurachek said.

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