It’ll be No. 1 vs. No. 7 in the SEC Championship game Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Alabama remained the No. 1 team in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s next-to-last rankings of the season, released Tuesday night, while Florida dropped just one spot from No. 6 to No. 7 after an upset loss to LSU.
Alabama is a 17-point favorite over Florida, but the Crimson Tide (10-0) appears positioned for a berth in the four-team playoff regardless of the outcome in Atlanta.
Florida (8-2) is one spot ahead of Georgia (7-2) in the committee’s latest rankings on the basis of the Gators’ 44-28 win over the Bulldogs on Nov. 7. Georgia moved from No. 9 to No. 8 after routing Missouri.
The Bulldogs are ranked ahead of Florida in this week’s Associated Press and coaches’ polls, but the CFP committee tends to put considerable weight on head-to-head results when overall records are comparable.
The committee had “a lot of conversation about Georgia and Florida,” Gary Barta, the committee chairman, said on a conference call Tuesday night, “and I can tell you it was back and forth. A tough loss for Florida (to LSU). We did note that (star tight end) Kyle Pitts was out, and the committee recognizes when a player is unavailable.
“Georgia, on the other hand – ever since they added JT Daniels at quarterback, their offense has taken off. Watched them, they’re averaging about 40 points a game now in the last three games since Daniels came in. But Florida beat Georgia head-to-head.”
Unsurprisingly, the top five teams in the committee’s rankings remained the same as last week.
Notre Dame (10-0) and Clemson (9-1) are Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, entering their meeting in the ACC Championship game. Ohio State (5-0) is No. 4 heading into the Big Ten title game against No. 14 Northwestern (6-1).
Texas A&M (7-1) held on to No. 5, one position off the playoff pace.
Also in the top 10 are Iowa State at No. 6 (up one spot), undefeated Cincinnati at No. 9 (down one spot after not playing for a third consecutive week) and Oklahoma at No. 10. Iowa State (8-2) will play Oklahoma (7-2) in the Big 12 Championship game, while Cincinnati (8-0) is scheduled to face No. 23 Tulsa (6-1) in the American Athletic Conference title game.
Just outside the top 10, Indiana is ranked No. 11, undefeated (11-0) Coastal Carolina No. 12 and USC, the highest-ranked Pac-12 team, No. 13.
The 13-member playoff selection committee will issue its final rankings of the season Sunday, reflecting results of the conference championship games. Sunday’s rankings will determine the bracket for the playoff.
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