The Cotton Bowl gets two at-large picks with one being the best Group of Five teams. That’s looking like No. 17 Memphis if the Tigers can beat Cincinnati in the AAC championship. Anyway, Baylor or Oklahoma could be available if a Big 12 champion doesn’t make the playoff. One of those two would go to the Sugar Bowl.
Alabama is the fifth-best SEC team in the playoff rankings and there’s nothing it can do to jump any of them. Neither Georgia, nor LSU would come anywhere near falling below No. 12 with a title-game loss, so it would look more like Alabama would be outside the New Year’s Six bowls.