When the 12-team College Football Playoff field is unveiled Sunday afternoon, Alabama will almost certainly be included. That felt like an inevitability when the selection committee moved the Crimson Tide up one spot to No. 9 in its latest rankings, jumping a Notre Dame team that closed the regular season with a far more convincing rivalry win.

It probably doesn't matter that Alabama didn't look like it belonged on the same field as No. 3 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. The Bulldogs earned a rare breakthrough over their growing rival, rolling to a 28-7 win that was even more lopsided than the final score suggested.

Alabama rushed for minus-3 yards as a team and didn't eclipse 100 total yards until late in the third quarter. Though the Tide beat Georgia in the regular season, they'v

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