Alabama Hits No. 3 With Two Losses, While Indiana Falls Five Spots on Bye
The selection committee moved the Tide up two spots despite a head-to-head loss to Tennessee, while the Hoosiers suffered the largest drop for an idle team in College Football Playoff history.
By Renata Mehta ·
Alabama now sits at No. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings despite a 7-2 record. The selection committee moved the Tide up two spots on Tuesday, making them the highest-ranked team with two losses in the country. This marks the earliest a two-loss team has ever entered the top four of the CFP rankings.
The move places Alabama five spots above Tennessee. Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10 in Neyland Stadium and holds the same 7-2 record. The Vols currently sit at No. 8. The gap between the two schools was eight spots in the previous week's rankings.
Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek cited record strength and schedule strength for Alabama's rise. He noted the Tide own the No. 1 metrics in both categories. Yurachek specifically pointed to a win against Mississippi State earlier in the season. He said the Bulldogs were 4-0 and featured a healthy Kamario Taylor at the time. "Alabama, we believe, deserves to be the No. 3 team in the country," Yurachek said on ESPN.
Indiana suffered the largest drop for an idle team in the 13-season history of the rankings. The Hoosiers fell five spots to No. 9 after resting during the bye week. The previous largest drop for a team that did not play was three spots, a mark set by Nebraska in 2014 and Penn State in 2022. Yurachek described Indiana as "probably a victim of having a bye week at the wrong time."
The committee's reliance on strength-of-conference data continues to favor SEC teams. Nine SEC teams are currently ranked in the top 25. Seven of those teams rank higher than their positions in the AP poll. No SEC team ranked lower than its AP spot. Four SEC teams are at least three spots higher than the AP ranking.
Notre Dame made the largest jump in the top 10, moving from No. 11 to No. 5. The Irish defeated previous No. 1 Miami in Week 10. No team has moved from outside the top 10 into the top five in a single week in CFP history. Notre Dame is 1-1 against top 25 opponents, with a 28-24 loss to BYU.
Tennessee is 2-2 against the top 25. The Vols beat Alabama and Kentucky by a combined 44 points. Their two losses were by a combined six points. Tennessee plays at Texas A&M on Saturday and hosts LSU on Nov. 21. Alabama has already defeated both of those opponents this season.
Texas Tech sits at No. 12, two spots lower than the AP poll. The Red Raiders are 8-1 and 2-0 against top 25 teams. They beat Houston and Arizona. Their only loss was a 37-24 defeat at unranked Cincinnati. Texas Tech plays at No. 25 Oklahoma State on Saturday.
New Mexico is 8-1 and leads the country in scoring defense. The AP ranks the Lobos at No. 23, but the CFP committee has left them unranked for the second straight week. Their only loss was a 14-6 defeat at Oklahoma on Sept. 19. Oklahoma has since beaten Texas and won at Florida.
Indiana faces No. 18 USC in Bloomington on Saturday. The committee will release the next set of rankings on Tuesday.
