The path to the College Football Playoff is wide open, and for the first time in a while, it doesn’t feel like the SEC has a stranglehold on the post-season. Alabama, LSU and Georgia have combined to win the past four national titles as well as six of the nine championships during the four-team playoff era. However, it feels like the path to the title actually runs through the PAC-12 as they currently have six teams ranked in the top 25 with four falling inside the top ten.
After an early season loss to Texas and a struggling win against USF, the Tide righted the ship against Ole Miss and once again felt like a potential playoff contender. If Alabama plans to be one of the final four teams standing, they will have to go the remainder of the season without dropping a game. On top of running the remainder of the schedule, this would also include an SEC championship game which would likely be against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Despite the early loss to Texas, oddsmakers still feel like Nick Saban’s squad has a chance to make a late-season run as they hold one of the best odds to raise the trophy in January according to BetMGM.