The AP Top 25 and the College Football Playoff rankings rarely line up perfectly, but Week 11 made the gap impossible to miss.
That matters because the CFP board is the one that ultimately shapes the postseason picture - national seeds, home-field assignments and byes all flow from those rankings. So when the AP and the committee see the same teams differently, it is more than a cosmetic disagreement.
Alabama is one of the clearest examples. The Crimson Tide landed at No. 7 in the AP poll, but the committee pushed them all the way up to No.
- The selection group made its stance obvious, leaning hard on Alabama’s overall strength of record even after losses to Georgia and Tennessee.
AP voters were less impressed by what Alabama has shown lately, though they still weighed the close loss to Georgia, the convincing win over Kentucky that has aged well, and the dominant performance at LSU.
Notre Dame also split the two rankings, though in a different way. The Irish are No. 3 in the AP Top 25 and No. 5 in the CFP rankings.
Before last Saturday, Notre Dame had been No. 4 in the AP poll, and a four-point loss at BYU only dropped them two spots there. The committee, though, was much tougher on Notre Dame’s schedule, noting that the Irish had no wins against ranked opponents and placing them at No.
- Then came the win over No.
1 Miami, which forced a major adjustment and sent Notre Dame up seven spots in the committee’s eyes after that surge in strength of record.
Miami took a hit from both sides, but not the same one. The Hurricanes checked in at No. 5 in the AP poll and No. 7 in the CFP rankings.
The loss at Notre Dame and the injury to star wide receiver Malachi Toney were always going to hurt, but the committee had extra work to do because it also had to elevate Notre Dame and then place Miami behind the Irish. AP voters didn’t face that same balancing act, since they already had Notre Dame in the top five, so Miami’s slide on that ballot was less severe.
Indiana is another team where the committee and AP are looking at the same résumé and seeing different things. The Hoosiers are No. 6 in the AP poll, but they fell to No. 9 in the CFP rankings after sitting at No. 4 a week ago.
They didn’t even play, yet the movement around them and a fresh concern about strength of schedule changed the committee’s view. Indiana now gets a chance to answer that against USC on Saturday.
BYU’s situation is different again. Two losses - first at unranked UCF and then at undefeated, highly ranked Utah - created a tricky call for voters.
The committee kept the Cougars in the top ten at No. 10, ahead of reigning Big 12 champion Texas Tech, which is No. 12 in the CFP ranking and still outside the bubble. The AP poll, meanwhile, dropped BYU below the Red Raiders.
If Texas Tech keeps winning, that order could become a bigger issue down the line.
In Other News...
Alabamas Seton Hall Win Left One Real Question About This Roster
Alabamas 82-76 win over Seton Hall offered a useful early look at what this roster can be when it starts to click. Amari Allen led the way with 24 points and five assists, and Nate Oats got a chance to keep testing different rotation combinations while the Tide showed better effort on the defensive end than it has at other points.
Seton Hall made things interesting by clawing back from a 17-point deficit, which is the kind of response that can expose where a team still has work to do even in a win. Alabama handled the closing stretch well enough to finish the job, but the bigger takeaway from a non-conference game like this is whether the improved defense and lineup tinkering can hold up once the schedule gets tougher. [Read more 🡒]
Keelon Russell Opened Up About Playing Through Alabamas Biggest Vanderbilt Concern
Alabamas 21-6 win at Vanderbilt came with a little more uncertainty than the final score suggested, and Keelon Russell was right at the center of it. The quarterback entered the week dealing with an injury that left his status in question, then still managed to get on the field and guide the Crimson Tide to a road victory with 217 yards and three touchdowns.
Russell said he pushed himself throughout the week to be ready, which helps explain why Alabama was able to keep its offense steady despite the concern around his availability. For a team that needed him to answer the bell, the bigger question now is how he comes out of that game and what it means for the next stretch of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Faces A Late-Season CFP Test It Cannot Afford To Blow
November has a way of turning every ranked matchup into a referendum, and Alabama is right in the middle of that churn as the College Football Playoff picture tightens. With several contenders around the country dealing with injuries, travel issues and the lingering effects of recent results, the margin for error is shrinking fast, and the Tide know they cannot afford a stumble if they want to stay in the thick of the race.
Week 11 brings the kind of pressure-packed setting that can reshape the bracket in a hurry, especially with teams like Notre Dame, Texas, UCLA, Kentucky and Boise State all trying to protect their own positioning. For Alabama, the challenge is less about style points now and more about surviving a late-season test that could determine whether its playoff case stays strong or starts to unravel. [Read more 🡒]