Mapping out Alabama’s path to the College Football Playoff

Though it’s not likely, there’s a clear path to the College Football Playoff for Alabama. We mapped it out.

In the most recent College Football Playoff rankings the Crimson Tide come in at the No. 7 spot, within striking distance of the top four.

No two-loss team has ever made the playoffs before, but it looks like the committee has not entirely counted the Tide out. Alabama’s two losses are not comparable to anyone else as they both came on the road against LSU and Tennessee who were not only top-10 teams when they played, but remain in the top 10 in the latest rankings. On top of that, both games ended with walk-off scores.

In other words, the committee recognizes this isn’t the same as Clemson losing by 21 to an unranked Notre Dame or Oregon losing to Georgia by close to 50 points. Even though the Tide dropped two games, the difficulty of the schedule would be difficult for just about any team in the nation.

So what has to happen for the Tide to sneak their way into the big dance? Here are a few scenarios that Alabama fans should root for in order to have a compelling case to put the Crimson Tide into the CFP.