Alabama and Penn State being upset presented a change in the AP College Football Top-25 Poll, and that could signal a shift in the College Football Playoff Rankings. The Crimson Tide was No. 3 in the poll and in the CFP. After its 46-41 loss to No. 2 LSU, they fell to fourth in the Week 12 AP Poll, which was released Sunday. The second round of CFP Rankings will be announced Tuesday evening.
It was a bigger drop for Penn State. The Nittany Lions, who were ranked No. 4, in both the AP poll and in the CFP Rankings, were defeated by No. 13 Minnesota. PSU was a 6.5-point favorite, but lost, 31-26. Minnesota was rewarded by jumping up to No. 7 in the weekly poll.
Penn State dropped from No. 4 to No. 8 in the Week 12 AP Poll. While the Penn State’s chances of moving into the CFP’s top four have probably vanished, Nittany Lions’ defensive tackle, Robert Windsor told reporters after the game the season isn’t lost.
“We still have a chance for redemption,” Windsor said. “We’re gonna use this as fuel for ourselves.”
Alabama Still In CFP Hunt
The Crimson Tide, on the other hand, still has a chance to be one of the four teams that will participate in the College Football Playoff. Alabama only fell a spot in the poll, and might be No. 4 when the second version of the CFP rankings are released Tuesday night.
Alabama would have to win out to secure that spot, and some oddsmakers think even that might not be enough to get them into the Final Four. Over at SportsLine, they set Alabama at -140 to miss the playoffs, and at +110 to make them.
Before the LSU defeat, Bovada had Alabama at -260 to make the College Football Playoffs.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban was disappointed about the loss, and said it will be up to other teams if Alabama is going to make the College Football Playoffs.
“There’s a lot of lessons to be learned from the things that we did and didn’t do today. I think that everybody’s got to make a commitment to finish the season the right way. We don’t really control our own destiny, but if we finish the season the right way, we can see where it takes us. We’ve been in this situation before, so I think the big thing is everybody needs to learn from the mistakes that we made today and try to get better.â€
LSU Overwhelmingly No. 1 in AP Poll
The biggest winner in the AP Top-25 Poll was LSU. Last week, the Tigers were No. 1, but split up the first-place votes with Alabama and Ohio State. After defeating the Crimson Tide, the Tigers got 54 of the 62 first-place votes.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron told reporters after the win that he knew his team was better than Alabama.
“You know when I felt it?” Orgeron asked the media at Bryant-Denny Stadium. “When I got on the plane. I felt like, ‘You know what, we got ’em. We finally got the tools that we need, we finally got the players that we need. We finally got the coaching staff that we need to beat these guys.'”
