Iron Bowl 2025 — Alabama’s Qua Russaw tackles Auburn’s Ashton Daniels. (University of Alabama Athletics)

The 2025 College Football Playoff is starting to take shape.

With just one Saturday of games remaining, Alabama got a glimpse of just how much is at stake during this weekend’s trip to the SEC Championship Game.

The Crimson Tide officially came in at No. 9 on Tuesday night, meaning its margin for error might be bigger than it was last week. Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, another win over Georgia would guarantee a spot in the playoff.

But things could get more complicated with a loss to the Bulldogs.

Keep reading for a complete look at this week’s rankings, the current bracket + how other conference championship games could impact Alabama.

College Football Playoff

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Alabama officially came in at No. 9 in the rankings, giving it the No. 9 seed in the bracket as it stands currently. The Tide is one of five SEC teams currently in the 12-team field.

Here is how the bracket looks ahead of conference championship weekend:

Ohio State
Indiana
Georgia
Texas Tech
Oregon
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Alabama
Notre Dame
Virginia
Tulane

This bracket would send Alabama to Norman for a rematch with the Sooners in the first round with the winner taking on No. 1 Ohio State in the quarterfinals.

Just seven of those 12 teams currently in the field will play this weekend.

“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… Alabama went on the road in a rivalry game… that was enough to change the minds of a couple of committee members to push Alabama ahead of Notre Dame in this week’s rankings.”
Hunter Yurachek, College Football Playoff Committee Chair

From this week’s rankings, it seems at least 10 of the playoff spots are secured with only seeding to be determined. Teams who are almost certainly in the field no matter what include:

Ohio State
Indiana
Oregon
Georgia
Ole Miss
Texas A&M
Oklahoma
Texas Tech

The two remaining automatic bids will be taken by two other conference champions—one being the American champion and the other likely coming from the ACC, Sun Belt or Mountain West.

That leaves just two spots up for grabs still. Alabama can secure one of those spots with a win over Georgia but if the Tide loses, it might need some outside help.

December 2️⃣ College Football Playoff Selection Committee Rankings

9️⃣. Alabama // @AlabamaFTBL #CFBPlayoff 🏈🏆 pic.twitter.com/dbFNoxOdjt
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) December 3, 2025

Conference championship weekend

Although Tuesday night’s rankings did not provide the official 12-team field, it gave us good insight on how the committee sees teams entering conference championship weekend.

There are just a handful of games left that could sway the rankings but in the past, the committee has said making a conference championship game should not negatively impact a team even if they lose.

However, College Football Playoff Committee Chair Hunter Yurachek made a point to say idle teams could still move up or down in the final rankings.

So while Alabama is in the bracket this week, a loss could still impact their standing.

Take a look at how some of the games could impact the Tide’s standing in the CFP rankings:

SEC Championship Game
- This one is simple as Alabama secures an automatic bid to the CFP with a win
Big 12 Championship Game
- If BYU wins, an Alabama loss could knock the Tide out of the bracket
- However, a BYU win could help Alabama grab a first-round bye if the Tide wins the SEC Championship
Big 10 Championship Game
- This game likely won’t have much of an impact on the rankings BUT if Alabama is hoping for a first-round bye still, an Ohio State win would likely help the Tide reach the top 4