5 things we learned from Week 13 College Football Playoff rankings

Alabama might not be dead yet

I understand why it annoys college football fans that Alabama is still ranked ahead of Clemson at No. 7 this week. The Tigers are sitting at No. 8 despite having a better record.

Alabama has two top-25 wins — both on the road, while Clemson beat Florida State, a top-20 team on the road, and Louisville at home. Playing South Carolina this weekend will add to the resume and so will winning the ACC championship.

Alabama passes the eye test and the only losses came against top-10 teams, on the road, and on last-second plays. Alabama is a missed field goal away from being in the top five.

However, if it comes down to it, I have a hard time seeing the committee leaving out a 12-1 Clemson team if it scores wins over North Carolina and South Carolina.

That being said, the committee is high on Alabama and if all hell breaks loose, maybe there is still an outside shot for the Crimson Tide, even though it would be borderline ridiculous.

But what if TCU drops the Big 12 title game to Kansas State, USC goes down to Notre Dame, Michigan gets blown out by Ohio State, Georgia takes out LSU and North Carolina upset Clemson?

Then we would have No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Ohio State, and a field of contenders that would include 11-1 Michigan, 10-2 Alabama,12-1 TCU (non-conference champion), Oregon, or USC (2-loss Pac-12 champion). In that wild scenario, it’s not impossible to see Alabama in the final four.