Alabama Ranked No. 5 in First CFP Rankings, but Its Playoff Résumé Has a Problem

Alabama being ranked fifth in the first CFP rankings was a surprise, but it also might be a bit misleading because right now Alabama looks like they can go on the road and potentially lose to LSU in Baton Rouge and still make it into the college football playoff as a three-loss team. But that might not be the case by the end of the season, thanks to Kentucky and South Carolina. Right now, those are... Alabama's best two wins on the year. They dominated both of those games, but they might not look as impressive by the time we get to the end of the year. Kentucky is about to enter their most difficult stretch of the season. They're seven and one now, but they have to play at Tennessee, home for Florida, at Missouri, and then a rivalry game against the resurgent Louisville team. That's a precarious spot that could end with Kentucky having three or four losses on the regular season. South Carolina already has three losses and they still have to play Georgia and a rivalry game against Clemson. So if we're talking about a three or four loss team as your signature win, if you're Alabama, that puts you in a precarious spot. Now, the way to avoid this is just to simply beat LSU, a team that has been volatile. And if we're talking about quality wins, LSU really doesn't have one to this point in the season. But Alabama absolutely cannot bank on being a three loss team based on where they were in the first CFP rankings. They are in a precarious spot because their quality wins that are really bolstering them at this point might look less quality by the time we get to the final CFP rankings.