Yurachek Explains Why Alabama Jumped Notre Dame

Alabama received good news from the College Football Playoff committee on Tuesday night, as the Crimson Tide somewhat unexpectedly leapfrogged the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the playoff rankings. Alabama had previously been No. 10 in the rankings after the Tide's 23-21 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, while Notre Dame sat ahead of them at No. 9. On Tuesday night, those rankings flipped, with Alabama coming in at No. 9 and Notre Dame coming in at No. 10.

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The move all but guarantees Alabama an unofficial bid to the College Football Playoffs, regardless of the outcome of Alabama's matchup with Georgia in the SEC Championship game this Saturday. If the Crimson Tide loses, then Alabama can drop one spot and still be in the playoff field, regardless of the outcomes of other conference championships.

Hunter Yurachek was immediately asked about the switch when Alabama struggled with 5-7 Auburn in the Iron Bowl, while Notre Dame demolished a bad Stanford team.

"I will tell you, the debate between Alabama and Notre Dame over the past three weeks has been one of the strongest debates we’ve had in the room for the past two years that I’ve been a member of the committee," CFP Chair Hunter Yurachek said to ESPN. "I think this week, as we looked at those two teams and how closely they have been over the past three weeks – Notre Dame went on the road, had a strong win at Stanford, but Alabama went on the road in a rivalry game, looked really good, especially in the first half, getting up 17-0. Ran the ball well. Auburn came back at them. They had a great, gutsy call on fourth-and-2 late in the third [sic] quarter to get a touchdown, and then got the turnover late in that game. I think that was enough to change the minds of a couple committee members to push Alabama up ahead of Notre Dame in this week’s rankings."

It wasn't a glowing endorsement, but it was an acknowledgement that Alabama now sits in a good position should it lose a close game to Georgia on Saturday in the SEC Championship. Still, Alabama would not be guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoffs if it loses to Georgia on Saturday, as Yurachek again expressed difficulty in projecting teams in games they have yet to play.

"You know, it's hard to look ahead to say what we need to see from them. The easiest thing to see from them would be a win, obviously. But we will judge all of the conference championship games when they are completed, the results of them, and then rank the teams 1 through 25 accordingly. It's hard for me to say specifically what the committee would be looking for from Alabama. They're in a really solid position this week at No. 9, got an opportunity in their conference championship to give us another datapoint."

In an unrelated question to Alabama, Yurachek did provide an interesting quote, citing that an idle team that is not playing in their conference championship could move into the playoff field if a team playing this weekend suffers a 'significant loss' in a title game.

"Idle teams can move based on the results of the championship games. There may be something that happens in a championship game that impacts an idle team, whether that's their strength of schedule or some other datapoint that we use, or there could be a team that suffers a significant loss in a title game. We don't try to predict what's going to happen, but yes, idle teams can move within the rankings as we rerank them one last time this weekend."

Could that 'significant loss' be a key player, such as a quarterback? Could it be a blowout loss in the conference championship? We'll have to wait and see how the committee reacts to championship Saturday when the final rankings are released on Selection Sunday.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.