Miami in trouble as Alabama rises in the latest College Football Playoff rankings

Miami's playoff hopes took an all-but-final nosedive while Alabama's got a boost Tuesday night in the last rankings before the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket is set next weekend.

The Hurricanes (10-2) moved down six spots to No. 12 — the first team out of the projected bracket after suffering their second loss of the season. They are one spot behind the Crimson Tide (9-3), who won last week and moved up two spots to No. 11, where they are projected as the last team in and the fourth from the Southeastern Conference.

To make things worse for the ’Canes, selection committee chair and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said there was no way for them to leapfrog Alabama since neither team plays next weekend. The odds of them moving up based on lopsided results in the weekend's conference title games are virtually zero.

The Miami-Alabama sorting was the strongest indication yet that the selection committee is looking at more than mere wins and losses, but also at strength of schedule and other factors that appear to give the SEC an edge.

“We obviously feel highly about both teams,” Manuel said. “What it came down to was, Alabama was 3-1 against current Top 25 teams and Miami is 0-1.”

Oregon stayed at No. 1 for the fifth straight week and will head into Saturday's Big Ten title game as the only undefeated team in big-time college football.

The pairings for college football's first 12-team playoff will be set Sunday, the day after the conference title games. The playoff games start Dec. 20, with the title game set for Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

Ohio State moved down four spots to No. 6 after its loss to Michigan.

That bumped Texas up a spot to No. 2, Penn State to No. 3, Notre Dame to No. 4 and Georgia to No. 5.

The selection committee all but designated the Big 12 as a one-bid team, moving Arizona State and Iowa State up only one spot each to Nos. 15 and 16.

The top five ranked conference champions are guaranteed bids, which means the winner of the Big 12 title game is in even it doesn't reach the top 12 — another factor in Miami's likely ouster.

SMU, on a nine-game winning streak, moved up a notch to No. 8 and is the Atlantic Coast Conference’s highest-ranked team, but still potentially vulnerable if it loses the title game to No. 17 Clemson.

But the crux of this week’s drama comes from — where else? — the SEC.

Alabama is only two weeks removed from an ugly 24-3 loss at Oklahoma. The Tide still got better treatment than Miami, which has two losses by less than a touchdown, both of which, Manuel pointed out, came in the last three weeks.

He also said Alabama's 6-1 record against winning teams vs. Miami's mark of 4-2 played a factor.

Also in the SEC, Mississippi was ranked 13th and South Carolina 14th — answering a question of just how deep into the SEC pool the committee was willing to go. Neither team has another chance to build its resume.

Other rankings: No. 7 Tennessee, No. 9 Indiana and No. 10 Boise State. The projected bracket includes four teams each from the Big Ten and SEC and one each from the ACC, Mountain West and Big 12, plus independent Notre Dame.

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