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Clemson and Alabama remain the two best teams in college football and that should remain unchanged as long as the Tigers and Crimson Tide keep winning.
That’s the feeling the selection committee delivered Tuesday night after releasing their third College Football Playoff Top 25 of the season. The top four remain unchanged and the biggest concern, at least right now, continues to be one-loss Notre Dame vs. unbeaten Iowa and which team deserves that No. 4 spot.
RELATED: Third College Football Playoff Top 25 Rankings
No one’s forgetting about Alabama’s loss to Ole Miss — the only reason Nick Saban’s team hasn’t leaped Dabo Swinney and Clemson for No. 1
SEC takeaways from the third College Football Playoff rankings:
- Alabama knows what it has to do to battle for a national championship — keeping winning. Charleston Southern, Auburn and Florida are the only teams that stand in the way of a final four bid and the Crimson Tide could be favored by double digits in each of those contests.
- The Gators are inside the Top 10 at No. 8 following Saturday’s win at South Carolina. For 3.5 quarters, it was largely a dominant effort from the SEC East champs before a late touchdown pass — and a touchdown reception — from Pharoh Cooper made for a furious finish. It’s my belief that Florida will reach the Playoff if its win out. That would include victories against Florida State and Alabama, more than enough to convince the committee that Jim McElwain’s team is worthy.
- From second to 15th … that’s where the story ends for LSU. The Tigers have suffered consecutive disappointing losses since the release of the initial CFP rankings during the first week in November. Offensively, LSU’s a mess and Leonard Fournette hasn’t received much help since heading into the Alabama game as the Heisman front-runner. It appears a New Year’s Six bid is in the cards if the Tigers win out.
- Ole Miss doesn’t have an argument at the moment with three losses. The Rebels are about where they should be at No. 22.
