Alabama's CFP ranking stuns college football world: 'JOKE from the CFP committee' - USA Today
The first unveiling of the College Football Playoff rankings is in the books, and there was some head-scratching that followed.
A notable cause of that was the CFP selection committee ranking two-loss Alabama as the No. 5 seed in the 12-team bracket.
"Everyone is surprised," ESPN's Joey Galloway said on Alabama's seeding on the network's show.
∎ USA TODAY Sports provided live reaction from tonight's College Football Playoff rankings reveal. Join Blake Toppmeyer and John Brice for their instant analysis on the CFP's first top 25:
The reason the Crimson Tide's specific seeding is a head-scratcher is that Alabama was ranked ahead of a one-loss Kentucky squad, which Keelon Russell and Co. defeated back in Week 2, and eight spots ahead of a Tennessee team that rolled the team over, 26-10, just a few weeks ago.
To put the decision from the committee into further perspective, USA TODAY Sports' Matt Hayes had the Crimson Tide as his No. 9 team in his CFP bracket projection heading into Tuesday. In that same projection, the Crimson Tide was ranked behind Texas — which has two top-10 wins at home against then-No. 1 Ohio State and then-No. 7 Mississippi, in addition to a road win at Tennessee. The committee had the Longhorns at No. 7 in the bracket.
CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek explained Alabama's ranking after the rankings were revealed.
"You look first that Alabama went on the road and beat a team that we have six this week in Kentucky. They also beat South Carolina, who is ranked in the top 25, and I think many forget that they went on the road and beat Mississippi State when Mississippi State was undefeated and at full strength," Yurachek said. "We really valued that as a strong win for Alabama back there in the early part of the season when Mississippi State had that quarterback (Kamario Taylor) who was very, very good. Mississippi State was on a roll at that time."
Yurachek noted that Tennessee doesn't have the same number of quality wins as Alabama, despite having the head-to-head over the Crimson Tide. He also noted that Alabama got the head-to-head advantage against Kentucky because the Crimson Tide and Wildcats were in the same "pod" by the committee. (Alabama and Tennessee, notably, were not).
The Crimson Tide's ranking, to no surprise, caused plenty of reactions on social media throughout the college football world. Here's a snippet of the reactions:
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