The College Football Playoff committee publicly lists only four specific criteria it uses to rank teams. That list includes strength of schedule and head-to-head competition.  

But a fifth unwritten nugget has become apparent throughout the playoff’s existence: Alabama always, always, always will receive the benefit of the doubt.

You didn’t really think the committee would embrace Miami, Mississippi or South Carolina over Alabama for the final spot in this 12-team bracket, did you? That Script “A” casts a spell on the committee. The Alabama brand endures, even after it loses 24-3 to an opponent that finished 6-6.

Of course Alabama would become the first three-loss team admitted into the 12-team playoff. Who else would it be?

Mississippi, with its lavish history that includes never appearing in the SEC championship game? Not when a storied blue blood like Alabama shares Ole Miss’ 9-3 record.

Sorry, Rebels, you looked awfully good smashing Georgia and South Carolina. And you do use the script font on your helmets, but there’s no “A” in Ole Miss.

Just last year, the committee chose 12-1 Alabama over 13-0 Florida State. That became the only time an undefeated Power Four champion got left out of the four-team playoff.

And in 2017, Alabama joined Ohio State as the only teams from a conference to ever qualify for the playoff without winning their division. That Alabama squad went on to win the national championship, giving future CFP committees permission to keep awarding the Tide the benefit of the doubt.

This latest feat would be the Tide’s most impressive, reaching the playoff despite losing to two 6-6 teams, one of which is Vanderbilt.

ACC title game still matters to CFP bracket

Alabama hasn’t quite pulled this off. The committee, during Tuesday’s rankings update, slotted the Tide to the 11 seed, earmarking for Alabama the final at-large spot. The ink is not dry.

The committee could redirect that final at-large bid to SMU or Boise State if either loses its conference championship game to bid-stealing Clemson or UNLV, respectively.

SMU ranks three spots ahead of Alabama; Boise State sits one spot ahead of the Tide.

SMU or Boise State can only really feel safe, though, if they win their conference crowns and capture the accompanying auto bids. Forget the rankings: Do you really trust that if SMU loses to Clemson in the ACC championship game, the committee would favor the Mustangs over Alabama?

Can’t you just hear CFP committee chairman Warde Manuel explaining the group’s pick of Alabama over SMU? While the committee respects SMU’s 11 victories, let’s not forget that just a few weeks ago, Alabama destroyed Mercer.

Alabama getting playoff bid wouldn’t be like last season’s farce

A year ago, Alabama farcically qualified over Florida State, the ACC’s undefeated champion, because the Seminoles’ quarterback got hurt, and the committee’s crystal ball said FSU wouldn’t hold up in the playoff without its quarterback, even though it had just beaten Florida on the road without its quarterback.  

In contrast, this is no farce. It’s just a show of Alabama getting the crimson rose to emerge from a bubble full of flawed résumés.

Legitimate reasons exist to anoint Alabama as the least-bad choice. Listen to Manuel spell out the rationale for putting Alabama ahead of 10-2 Miami.

“Alabama is 3-1 against current top-25 teams, and Miami is 0-1,” Manuel explained on ESPN. “Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500, and Miami is 4-2.”

Can’t argue that. Alabama wouldn’t be a good choice, because no good choice exists. Miami would be a worse choice. Alabama’s strength of schedule outranks that of Miami and Ole Miss, the two teams directly behind Alabama in the rankings.

The Rebels lost on their home field to Kentucky, the SEC’s second-worst team, and Miami lacks a signature victory. That’s the thing about expanding the playoff from four to 12 teams. The more teams you add, the worse an at-large playoff résumé looks, and the better a 9-3 blue blood looks.

Of the mangled collection of bubble teams, I would have chosen Ole Miss, by virtue of its dominant victories against Georgia and South Carolina. No playoff team would want to play the Rebels when they’re at their best, but they had their chances, and they blew enough of them, so dry your tears.

How about another 9-3 team, South Carolina? Well, the Gamecocks lost to Alabama and got blown out by Ole Miss, so forget that.

Last year, the committee snubbed a deserving, undefeated team. This year, it’s difficult to vigorously argue that anyone is truly getting snubbed, in the purest sense of the word.

Anyway, you had to see this coming.

Although you won’t find it listed in the CFP rules, because it’s unwritten, by now we all understand: If the committee can find any reason to select Alabama, it will.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.