How College Football Playoff committee views Alabama football after first ranking
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Alabama football now knows where it stands in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee.
In the first set of rankings released Tuesday, Nov. 4, the Crimson Tide landed at No. 4 behind No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana and No. 3 Texas A&M, and ahead of No. 5 Georgia, No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 7 BYU.
And at the start of November, with games against LSU, Oklahoma, Eastern Illinois and Auburn on the horizon, Baylor athletics director Mack Rhoades, the chair of the College Football Playoff committee, lauded Alabama‘s strength of schedule as “historical.”
“I’m not sure, when you look at résumé, anyone had a better stretch of four games,” Rhoades said.
After a season-opening loss to Florida State, Alabama has won seven straight, including a four-game streak of wins against No. 3 Georgia, No. 17 Vanderbilt, No. 14 Missouri and No. 11 Tennessee, two of which came in road games, and two of which were decided by 16 points or more.
Rhoades said there was also “discussion” about the Florida State loss, but that Alabama’s strength of record shines through, including its last road win against South Carolina.
Rhoades also mentioned “elite” quarterback play from Ty Simpson.
Of teams currently ranked in the top 12, Alabama is the only one with four ranked wins. Oklahoma has three ranked victories.
No. 4 Alabama will face LSU at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at cgay@gannett.com or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: How CFP committee views Alabama football after first ranking
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