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How Will Week 9 Affect the First Playoff Rankings of the Season?

It’s been almost a year since the College Football Playoff caused much of the sport to raise a collective eyebrow when it released its initial rankings with Georgia in the No. 1 spot. At that point, undefeated Alabama had held the top spot in each week’s AP poll since the preseason, but the CFP committee showed, in that case at least, that it was willing to buck assumptions.

This year, when the committee’s first playoff rankings are released on Tuesday, Oct. 30, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Crimson Tide aren’t No. 1. Nick Saban’s 8–0 team, which has won by an average of more than 38 points per game, looks the part of the game’s undisputed best team, and it has a bye this weekend, so there’s no jeopardy of a fluky loss or even a minor stumble.