Alabama opened the College Football Playoff committee’s first rankings of the 2026 season exactly where it wanted to be: squarely inside the top five.
The Crimson Tide checked in at No. 5 on Tuesday, a spot that would put Alabama comfortably in the 12-team CFP field if the bracket were set today. Under that projection, the Tide would host No. 12 seed Boise State in a December first-round game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Of course, these early rankings don’t decide anything in the end. But they do show how the committee is viewing Alabama right now, and that picture is a strong one.
At 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC, Alabama’s résumé already includes a road win over No. 6 Kentucky in Week 2, which stands as the team’s best victory so far.
The Tide also handled No. 21 South Carolina at home.
The two losses on the ledger came against No. 2 Georgia at home and No.
13 Tennessee on the road.
There’s still a chance to strengthen that profile this week, too. Alabama heads to Baton Rouge to face LSU on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC, with another ranked road win in play at Tiger Stadium.
For Kalen DeBoer, the goal is another trip to the College Football Playoff, this time in his third season leading Alabama. The Tide missed the field in 2024, then reached the second round in 2025 before the season ended in the Rose Bowl with a loss to eventual-national-champion Indiana.
The committee’s first rankings also line up with where Alabama sits in the national polls. The Crimson Tide came in at No. 9 in the latest AP top 25 and the coaches poll.
CFP rankings: Nov. 3
Miami
Georgia
Utah
Indiana
Alabama
Kentucky
Texas
UCLA
BYU
Ole Miss
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Tennessee
LSU
Texas Tech
Wake Forest
Houston
Missouri
Iowa
Southern Cal
South Carolina
Arizona
Oregon
Florida
Boise State
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Philip Rivers Could Leave Alabama For A Job That Changes Two Programs
Philip Rivers has built a second football life in Alabama, coaching at St. Michael Catholic High School while guiding his son Gunner, a committed NC State quarterback, through the next step of his career. Now the former NFL quarterback and NC State standout has surfaced as a leading candidate to take over the Wolfpack program after Dave Doeren was fired, a development that ties his current Alabama stop directly to a job with major meaning in Raleigh.
For Alabama fans who have watched Rivers settle into the high school game, the possibility carries an unusual ripple effect because it could pull him away from the state and into a role that would reshape both programs. Rivers has already shown respect for NC State and has drawn NFL head-coaching interest before, but this opening comes with a different kind of pull, one that would put father, son and alma mater on the same collision course. [Read more 🡒]
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Kentucky Suddenly Has A Surprising Role In Alabamas SEC Drama
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Finebaum also pointed to Kentucky as an unexpected piece of the larger picture, another result Alabama has reason to watch closely while trying to keep its own path to the College Football Playoff alive. In a conference race where Alabama and LSU are being measured against one another, the Wildcats performance could end up shaping how the playoff conversation looks around the Tide, even before the league's biggest games finish sorting themselves out. [Read more 🡒]