12/07/25 09:39:00
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12/07 09:38 CST Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami on edge ahead of College Football
Playoff bracket announcement
Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami on edge ahead of College Football Playoff bracket
announcement
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
The games have all been played. Now, it's time for a few more rounds of number
crunching before the College Football Playoff bracket is revealed.
Among the few certainties when the pairings come out Sunday: Indiana (13-0)
will enter the playoff at No. 1 and two of the folloiwng five teams will be
crying up a storm: Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami, Duke and James Madison.
The first three will likely only get two spots in the 12-team bracket, as the
selection committee will decide how much weight to place on Alabama's lopsided
loss to Georgia on Saturday while the other two teams were idle.
And then the committee will have to decide whether Duke, unranked and with five
losses, gets in over James Madison, which won the Sun Belt Conference and is
12-1. The Dukes are hoping to join American champion Tulane as a Group of Five
gate-crasher: The CFP has never had two G5 teams in the mix before.
The four top-seeded teams will get first-round byes --- starting with Indiana
and probably including Ohio State, Georgia and Texas Tech --- then the next
eight will play games at the home stadiums of the higher-seeded teams beginning
on Dec. 19. The next two rounds will take place Dec. 31-Jan. 1, then Jan. 8-9
at traditional bowl-game sites. The final is set for Jan. 19 outside of Miami.
The biggest debate and most of the second-guessing will center on the
Alabama-Notre Dame-Miami decision.
Some believe the committee placed the Crimson Tide at No. 9, one spot ahead of
the Fighting Irish, last week to create room for the Tide to lose, slide in the
rankings but still make the field. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer says his team
shouldn't be punished for advancing to a conference championship and losing.
"How can that hurt you and keep you out of the playoff?" he asked.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman wants the committee comparing his team to
Alabama because, that way, the Irish could presumably end up at 9 or 10 and
squeak into the bracket.
What he doesn't want is for the committee to compare his team to No. 12 Miami.
On Aug. 31, the Hurricanes beat the Irish, and if those two squads are ranked
right next to each other, that head-to-head matchup could be the difference
even if it seems like a long time ago.
___
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