The College Football Playoff selection committee unveiled its first weekly rankings on Tuesday night, placing Alabama at No. 4.
Teams ranked higher than the Crimson Tide are No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Indiana and No. 3 Texas A&M, showing no change from the current rankings in the Associated Press and coaches polls this week.
Under the 12-team playoff format, as the No. 4 seed, Alabama would receive a first-round bye. The Crimson Tide would then play in a quarterfinal matchup against the winner of No. 5 Georgia and No. 12 Memphis, the top-ranked Group of Five champion despite being unranked in the initial College Football Playoff standings.
This season, the CFP selection committee is operating with 12 members instead of its usual 13 and is chaired by Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades. The committee will continue releasing weekly rankings every Tuesday until December 7, when the final top 25 will be revealed to determine the 12-team playoff field.
After debuting the 12-team playoff format last year, the CFP adjusted its seeding rules for this season. Conference champions are no longer guaranteed a top-four seed or a first-round bye. While playoff spots will still go to the top five conference champions, the top four seeds will now simply be the four highest-ranked teams overall.
Alabama will host unranked LSU this Saturday followed by a home game against No. 12 Oklahoma as ranked this week by the College Football Playoff committee.
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