Follow along (and comment below) as we sort out the pretzel logic the committee treats us with tonight.
CFP week 1 reveal
Ended
Coverage has ended
The defense was outstanding, the offense was outstandingly terrible, at least until they decided to focus on hitting the Post.
But the perimeter shooting was awful most of the game, and no one was worse than Cole Cloer. That was disappointing after such a great preseason too.
Q, Fielder, Bouie and BG had great all-around games. Amari Allen eventually got bitched for playing hero ball. He was a ball hog just about everyone of his 20 minutes on the floor. Samuels and Bouie are especially playing like they want starter minutes
FINAL: No. 20 Alabama 96, Sam Houston State 74
— Simon Besnoy (@SimonBesnoy) November 4, 2026
The Alabama offense starts off slowly yet runs up the score to 96 points anyway. The defense looks promising, especially in the paint.
Offense will fully click once Diaz is healthy and Aden Holloway is back.
Much to be excited…
Nate Oats is gonna have some people’s ass at halftime.
— Thin Red Line (@TRLsports) November 4, 2026
You have Drew Fielder trying behind the back passes on a night when the offense already looks like hell, and Amari Allen is playing hero ball.
Hunter Yurachek on ND at No. 11: “They don’t have that signature win right now. They lost in their only Top 25 matchup so far.”
I think they put Alabama and LSU just high enough to justify having a three loss team in the playoffs.
Because Alabama and LSU are both very capable of winning a national title. They just happen to have the number two and number four strength of schedule, and face each each other with a month left to play.
Biggest differences between the AP Poll and CFP Rankings 👀
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) November 4, 2026
Notre Dame: No. 4 → No. 11 📉
Alabama: No. 9 → No. 5 📈
Indiana: No. 6 → No. 4 📈
Texas: No. 10 → No. 7 📈
UCLA: No. 5 → No. 8 📉
Boise State: No. 20 → No. 25 📉
Oregon is ranked No. 23 in the CFP, while AP No.… https://t.co/1n05En8mxV
Amari Allen
Qayden Samuels
London Jemison
Drew Fielder
Brandon Garrison
—
Q getting the nod at PG shouldn’t surprise anyone. A5 had to move to the 2, and Alabama is quite literally out of point guards. There’s no one who can handle the ball.
I don’t expect that to continue once the meaningful games begin and/or Diaz and Biz return. Diaz is available tonight and will play limited minutes, but he’s not getting the start in his first game of the year.
New Mexico is better than Boise State.
I’m inclined to agree. I mean, I’d much rather host Bozo in the first round, so…
Wow
Shocked.
I don’t think Desmond Howard actually understood what the committee is doing: they are rewarding playing difficult games. The message is not to schedule anyone going forward, sheer number of wins doesn’t count more over having good wins.
Then why is Indiana 4th?
One loss by one score (that they should have actually won if the guy catches the ball in bounds). One of the country’s best defenses. Incumbent benefit of the doubt. Two good conference wins, particularly Northwestern on the road. Another pair of decent conference wins.
And the committee just sees them as the best of a flawed Big Ten.
Plus Indiana doesn’t have control of 75% of its schedule. Notre Dame has complete control over all 12 games they play.
lots of reasons, some of which Alabama has had on their side before (like the benefit of the doubt as returning champ)
FTFY
This is embarrassing fuggo basketball.
So obviously there’s still a lot of hay to be got into the barn, but am I the only one who thinks this would be the most uninspiring slate of 1st round games yet?
Of course we’d all watch Bama-Bozo – but the CFB public at large would mostly tune out unless Bozo looked like pulling the upset late. BYU @ UCLA? Snooze. ND @ UK? I guess a fair number would tune in to hate-watch ND (I would) – and yes, the media would hype the “Minchey vs his old team” angle to death, but as an actual game it would be mid at best. OM @ UTx is the only game as such that I’d be excited about – and even that one loses some shine since it’s a rematch.
Gosh, I’m so glad we killed bowl season for this!!! (Do we have sartalics on This Here New Message Board?)
Click the </> to make the text
Ah, so that’s what that button does! Thanks!
Any chance we can get a special edition of The Meltdown for the crash out over Bama @#5?
On a completely unrelated note, has anyone done a wellness check on Danny Kanell?
That might be possible. There is plenty material out there.
the Cover 3 rankings reaction show was a family size bucket of Waahburgers and French Cries. Patterson, Fornelli, and Danny Doofus were on the verge of a Toys R Us toddler tantrum
Cloer has too pure a stroke for tonight to be anything but an outlier. And the way Q played tonight I think Nate will find minutes for him.
There are a couple things being overlooked by the pundits.
We did lose to Tenn with multiple starters out. I think we got some grace for that.
Our common opponent with TN is South Carolina. We thrashed them and TN lost. This likely factors in.
We also have a common opponent with #1 Miami in FSU. FSU took Miami to the brink. We farted around for a quarter and then beat their asses. I think this is also factoring in to our ranking.
A healthy Bama team beats fUT. Another thing to take into consideration is the fact that Bama’s bye weeks doesn’t come till late in the year. Tennessee gets the Tide when they’re basically gassed.