Heather Dinich: Alabama has 'safety net' with College Football Playoff committee given Georgia head-to-head
The college football world was shocked to see Vanderbilt upset No. 1 Alabama on Saturday, downing the Crimson Tide 40-35 at home and ruining Alabama’s undefeated start to the season.
After the Tide earned the top overall ranking in the AP Top 25 Poll after last week’s win over Georgia — how far will Alabama fall in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee? ESPN’s Heather Dinich believes fans shouldn’t be panicking after the Week 6 loss.
“I would be shocked if the committee had a ranking and didn’t have Alabama one spot above Georgia because of that head-to-head result,” Dinich said on SportsCenter on Sunday morning. “That doesn’t mean it can’t change down the road if Alabama loses again and Georgia has one loss, but right now, I wouldn’t expect the tide to drop below Georgia, which means they’re probably sitting around number three, number four because nobody behind them has done enough to move up past Georgia.”
Alabama’s first-half performance set the tone for the rest of the game. While Georgia came alive in the second half, the Crimson Tide ultimately defeated Georgia 41-34. It was the Bulldogs’ first regular season loss since November 2020, and enough to put Alabama atop Week 6’s rankings.
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Of course, the CFP committee and AP Poll don’t always see eye to eye. The first committee rankings won’t be revealed until Tuesday, Nov. 5, so depending on what happens in the four weeks between that time — fans may never know the committee’s true reaction to the Vanderbilt upset.
That also means that the result of Sunday’s AP Poll may not be indicative of how the committee believes the teams should be seeded.
There is still much football to be played before the committee’s first rankings are released, so depending on how the Crimson Tide, and Bulldogs for that matter, can keep it together in the coming weeks will be interesting to see.
For now, it seems Alabama still has the edge over the Bulldogs if the season were to end today.