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Shannon Sharpe on College Football Playoff possibilities: Alabama is one of four best teams

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•12/03/22
Shannon Sharpe, FOX analyst
Sports icons Deion Sanders and Shannon Sharpe join comedians Joel McHale, and Gillian Jacobs to make up the celebrity panel on the season five premiere of "To Tell the Truth," airing in a new timeslot on THURSDAY, MAY 21 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC, streaming and on demand. (Kelsey McNeal via Getty Images)

Following a pair of upset losses in the Big 12 and Pac-12 championship games, the college football world is abuzz about College Football Playoff possibilities.

Either No. 5 Ohio State or No. 6 Alabama might have a shot to sneak into the top four teams now, and at least one well-known TV personality seems to think Alabama deserves to be in.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, the co-host of Skip and Shannon: Undisputed on Fox Sports 1, chimed in with his opinion on Saturday as conference title games played out.

The case is certainly an interesting one, and it’ll be fascinating to see how the College Football Playoff selection committee views things when the final rankings are revealed on Sunday.

Previously unbeaten No. 3 TCU fell to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday, while one-loss No. 4 USC fell to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday night.

That ostensibly opened the door for either Ohio State or Alabama.

Ohio State’s only loss this season came against Michigan in the regular-season finale, with the Wolverines posting an impressive 45-23 road victory. Alabama, meanwhile, lost two games but both were on last-second plays on the road against ranked LSU and Tennessee teams.

College Football Playoff possibilities abound

The challenge the different College Football Playoff possibilities will present the selection committee will take some untangling, to say the least.

Already there’s been discussion of whether Ohio State being ranked ahead of Alabama last week was immutable or whether the two could flip between last week’s CFP rankings and the final edition, even with neither playing on conference championship weekend.

With no clear-cut overriding criteria for the committee, the door for discussion swings wide open.

Do wins and losses matter most? Strength of schedule? Conference championships? Good wins? Bad losses?

Nobody seems to have a clear-cut answer on that. Unlike Shannon Sharpe, TNT NBA analyst Stan Van Gundy took the stance that TCU and USC should not be penalized for losing their conference title games, which they earned the right to play in, while teams that didn’t earn that right sit at home.

“To me the College Football Playoff makes no sense to me,” Van Gundy said. “Playing in your conference championship game should never work against you. Why should it be advantage for Ohio State and Alabama to sit home while USC and TCU have to play an extra game against a nationally ranked team?”

In any case, all eyes will be glued to the televisions starting Sunday at noon ET on ESPN as the bowl and College Football Playoff possibilities turn into reality.