‘Have Some Shame,’ ‘The SEC Bias Is Insane’ — CFB World Struggling To Understand How 2-Loss Alabama Moved Up in Latest CFP Rankings

The College Football Playoff selection committee released its second rankings of the 2026 season on Tuesday night, and Alabama made a bit of history in them. The 7-2 Crimson Tide climbed two spots to No. 3. No two-loss team had ever reached the committee’s top four this early in a season.

That cushy new spot puts Alabama ahead of unbeaten UCLA at No. 4 and No. 8 Tennessee, which has the same record as the former and beat the Tide head-to-head.

It didn’t take long for a number of media voices to question how the committee got to that verdict.

College Football World Questions Alabama’s CFP Rankings Spot

Georgia sits No. 1 at 8-1, followed by unbeaten Utah at No. 2, with Alabama, unbeaten UCLA, Notre Dame, Texas, Miami and Tennessee filling out the top eight.

The Tide’s rise from No. 5 followed a 31-13 win at LSU last weekend. That same weekend, UCLA improved to 9-0 with a 34-20 win at Minnesota and sits first in the Big Ten.

Tennessee’s argument is its head-to-head matchup. The Volunteers handed Alabama one of its two losses, 26-10 at Neyland Stadium, and beat Kentucky 34-6 last weekend. They still sit five spots behind the Tide, a gap that was eight spots a week ago.

Denver broadcaster Vic Lombardi pointed straight at Kalen DeBoer’s side’s loss column and wrote, “2-loss Alabama at #3. Have some shame, man.”

Alabama’s two defeats, the one at Tennessee and a 20-17 home loss to No. 1 Georgia, both came against teams in the committee’s top eight. Against the current top 25, the Tide is 3-2, with a 49-18 home win over South Carolina and road wins at Kentucky, 45-17, and at LSU.

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Geoffrey Clark, who writes about Notre Dame and college football, appeared unsurprised entirely. “Alabama is ranked No. 3. Of course it is,” he wrote.

Jenna Lifshen, a journalist and editor at Kernel Sports, struggled to come to terms with the ranking: “Alabama at number three? In what world is Alabama three?”

Lifshen later pointed to the Bruins, who landed one spot below the Tide, saying, “The SEC bias is insane; I cannot fathom putting Alabama above UCLA.”

This season, the committee also has new strength-of-conference data to work with. Seven of the nine SEC teams in its top 25 sit higher than they do in this week’s AP poll, and none sit lower.

All 10 teams the committee placed below their AP spot come from other conferences. Alabama’s four-spot edge over its AP ranking is the widest of any team in the top 15.

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Committee Chair Hunter Yurachek Explains Alabama’s No. 3 Spot

So how does the committee justify it? Selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek defended the placement on ESPN on Tuesday.

“They have four what we call ‘quality wins’ because we continue to call that win against Mississippi State earlier in the year when they had Kamario Taylor on their team; they were 4-0,” he said. “Alabama went there and won that game. Alabama, we believe, deserves to be the No. 3 team in the country.”

Mississippi State has not won since that game. It is now 4-5 and sits 13th in the SEC. Meanwhile, Alabama ranks No. 1 nationally in both record strength and schedule strength, two of the measures the committee weighs in its selection process.

College football analyst Will Thomas pointed to the result in Baton Rouge: “That win against LSU justified their high ranking last week and THEN some.”

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Pro Football Network’s College Football Playoff Meter gives Alabama a 99.3% chance to make the playoff and a 48.1% chance to earn a top-four seed. The Playoff Meter puts UCLA at 88.0% and 31.2%, even though it gives the Bruins the better shot at a conference title, 32.8% to the Tide’s 22.4%.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.