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Alabama rolls to No. 1, but race for No 4 heats up

Alabama quarterback Blake Sims, left, coach Nick Saban and receiver Amari Cooper saw Crimson Tide jump from No. 5 to No. 1 in CFP poll. (Associated Press)
Ralph D. Russo Associated Press

With just three weeks until the College Football Playoff committee releases its final rankings, Alabama, Oregon and Florida State seem to be in control of their championship chances.

Keep winning and the Crimson Tide, Ducks and Seminoles should be in.

The race for the fourth and final spot in the playoff is shaping up to be a tussle between four teams.

Alabama jumped from fifth to first after handing previously undefeated and top-ranked Mississippi State its first loss on Saturday. The Bulldogs slid to fourth.

Oregon remained in second place and Florida State in third. The Seminoles are the only undefeated team left in a Big Five conference.

Florida State fans might not be happy about how their team is being treated, but the Seminoles appear to be safe if they can keep winning right through the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. Same goes with Alabama in the Southeastern Conference and Oregon in the Pac-12.

After that, things get complicated.

Mississippi State is followed by TCU, which slipped to No. 5 after a closer-than-expected win against Kansas on Saturday. Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 6, ahead of TCU’s Big 12 rival Baylor.

The Bulldogs play Vanderbilt on Saturday but finish the regular season at Ole Miss, giving them a chance for another resume-boosting victory. They could use it because their best wins from early in the season (LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn) have been tarnished a bit lately.

Ohio State is in position to play in the Big Ten championship if it wins out.

The Big 12 has no conference championship game. TCU and Baylor would be co-champs if each finishes 11-1, but Baylor beat the Horned Frogs in Waco, Texas last month.

The selection protocol calls for the committee to use championships won as a tiebreaker if teams have similar resumes.

Selection Committee chairman Jeff Long said “the differences between teams four through seven are narrow, very narrow.”

Whether it’s narrow enough to allow TCU, Ohio State or Baylor to jump past Mississippi State if one of those teams wins its conference and Mississippi State doesn’t remains to be seen.

The committee releases its final rankings on Dec. 7.