Alabama’s latest College Football Playoff ranking came with a clear message: the Crimson Tide’s win over LSU mattered.
After beating LSU on Saturday, Alabama climbed to No. 3 when the CFP committee released its new rankings Tuesday, moving up from No. 5. At 7-2, the Crimson Tide would be in line for a first-round bye if those rankings stayed intact through the end of the season.
The jump also kept Alabama positioned ahead of Tennessee, another two-loss SEC team. That matters because Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10 in October in Knoxville, but the committee still placed the Crimson Tide higher in this week’s update.
At the top of the board, Georgia moved into the No. 1 spot after climbing one place. The Bulldogs are 8-1, and their resume includes a 20-17 win over Alabama earlier this season. Their lone loss came in a home upset against Auburn.
Utah, at 9-0, sits just ahead of Alabama at No. 2. UCLA, also 9-0, completed the top four and would claim the other first-round bye if the bracket held.
The current projection would send Alabama into the playoff against an SEC opponent. In the bracket, the Crimson Tide would face the winner of a first-round game between No.
11 Kentucky and No. 6 Texas.
Alabama’s path through the regular season now turns to Vanderbilt on Saturday in Nashville. After that, the Crimson Tide does not have another game scheduled against a team currently ranked in the CFP top 25.
The full top 25 from the committee: Georgia, Utah, Alabama, UCLA, Notre Dame, Texas, Miami, Tennessee, Indiana, BYU, Kentucky, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, Houston, Iowa, Oregon, South Carolina, Southern Cal, Ole Miss, Ohio State, LSU, Missouri, Arizona, Boise State, Oklahoma State.
In Other News...
Alabama Is Using Last Year's Vanderbilt Humbling For A Reason
Last years trip to Nashville still lingers around Alabamas building, even if the Crimson Tide are not dwelling on it the same way outside observers might. The 2024 loss to Vanderbilt was a jolt, ending a long run of dominance in the series and becoming part of the backdrop to Alabama missing the College Football Playoff that season. As the Tide prepare to face the Commodores again, Kalen DeBoer and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack have pointed back to that game as a reminder of how quickly a season can shift when urgency slips.
The message from the staff is less about revenge than about standards. Some players have treated the loss as a distant memory rather than a central talking point, but Alabamas coaches have leaned on it to reinforce the need for relentlessness from snap to snap. For a program that expects to control games, the Vanderbilt result remains a useful lesson in what happens when that edge disappears, and why the Tide are making sure it does not happen again. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Recruiting Debate May Be Bigger Than This Year's Class
Andrew Ivins early look at Alabamas 2027 recruiting class left him uneasy, but the 247Sports director of scouting has since come around on the bigger picture. The class is sitting at No. 32, which is Alabamas lowest ranking in the 247Sports era, but Ivins now sees a path that could make sense in todays college football landscape if the Tide continue to lean into a larger high school haul and use the transfer market to fill in the gaps.
Greg Byrne has already signaled that Alabama wants to put more emphasis on high school recruiting in 2028, which only adds another layer to the debate. For a program that has long been measured by elite class rankings, the question is no longer just how this class stacks up on paper, but whether Alabamas broader roster-building approach can keep pace with the sports shifting rules and expectations. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Has A Real Stake In The SECs 2027 Scheduling Scramble
The College Football Playoffs new five-year agreement with ESPN is already forcing a major reset on how teams build future schedules, and Alabama has a real stake in how the SEC responds. Starting next season, Power Five programs will need to line up at least 10 Power Five opponents to stay eligible for the expanded 24-team field beginning in 2027, which has sent schools across the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC scrambling to adjust their calendars.
For Alabama, the ripple effect matters because scheduling has long been part of the programs playoff rsum and national-brand calculus. Some schools are already canceling previously booked games and hunting for replacements, while Oregon State and Washington State have a waiver that lets them count as Power Five teams despite the upheaval around their conference status. The SECs next move will shape not just who the Crimson Tide plays, but how much room there is to maneuver in a new playoff era. [Read more 🡒]