The Alabama Crimson Tide ended the regular season 9-3 after an Iron Bowl victory over Auburn to finish on a high note coming off the embarrassing defeat to Oklahoma the week prior.

After all hope looked lost entering the regular season finale for the Tide in regards to making the College Football Playoff — the way things played out this week — Alabama has a legitimate chance to still make it.

The most important development was the Miami Hurricanes dreadful loss to Syracuse which knocked them out of not only the ACC title game but potentially the 12-team field as well. Ranked ahead of Miami in the AP Poll, the Tide must also hope tomorrow night they are ranked ahead of the Hurricanes in the playoff poll.

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If Alabama is ranked ahead of all three of Miami, Ole Miss, and South Carolina, they are in fairly good shape. While the Tide would all but guaranteed have to go on the road to face either Notre Dame or the loser of the Big 10 title game, Alabama would surely love the challenge.

But in all likelihood, the Tide will still need SMU to defeat Clemson in the ACC title game as the Mustangs sit as a slight favorite. If Clemson loses, they will be eliminated with their fourth loss of the season while if they win, SMU will still have a decent shot entering the title game with just one loss.

Both Georgia and Texas are locks as are Ohio State and Penn State.

Things still need to play out and it’s not completely black and white, but if you’re a Tide fan, SMU is the team to root for next weekend.