Alabama fifth in CFP rankings after loss

Alabama is fifth in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, behind LSU, Ohio State, Clemson and Georgia, which took over the fourth spot in the selection committee’s second top 25.

LSU replaced Ohio State as No.

1 on Tuesday night after the Tigers won at Alabama on Saturday. The Buckeyes were bumped to No.

2. Clemson moved up two spots to No. 3 after two teams ahead of the Tigers lost for the first time last week, including Alabama.

The Crimson Tide fell to 46-41 to LSU and dropped two spots. Penn State, which had been No.

4, lost 31-26 at Minnesota and fell to ninth. The unbeaten Gophers climbed nine spots to eighth, the largest one-week jump in the sixyear history of the College Football Playoff.

Georgia moved up two spots to give the SEC two of the top four for the second straight week.

Selection committee chairman Rob Mullens, the Oregon athletic director, said Georgia’s loss to South Carolina (4-6) was noted by the committee, but the Bulldogs’ victories against No. 11 Florida and No. 16 Notre Dame pushed them past Alabama.

Oregon was sixth and fellow

Pac-12 team Utah was seventh. Oklahoma, the highest-ranked

Big 12 team at No. 10, dropped a spot after a one-point victory against Iowa State. The Sooners face 13th-ranked Baylor on Saturday. The Bears are the lowestranked unbeaten team.

The highest-ranked Group of Five teams were 17th-ranked Cincinnati and 18th-ranked Memphis out of the American Athletic Conference.

The highest-ranked team from outside the Power Five conferences receives an automatic bid to a New Year’s Six bowl.

The final rankings and pairings for the College Football Playoff semifinal will be revealed Dec. 8.

Alabama is the only team to make the playoff all five years. Can it get there again?