Nothing is finalized yet, but Alabama football sits on the doorstep of the College Football Playoff.
The CFP rankings released Tuesday night fell exactly how the Crimson Tide needed them to fall. Alabama moved up to No. 11 after winning the Iron Bowl. That means, if the season ended today, the Crimson Tide would own the No. 11 seed and head to South Bend, Indiana to face Notre Dame.
The most significant part of Tuesday’s reveal was that Miami fell to No. 12 after it lost to Syracuse. Also, Ole Miss was ranked No. 13 and South Carolina was put in the No. 14 spot.
One of the biggest questions heading into the rankings Tuesday night was where these four teams would be ranked. Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina are all 9-3 and won’t play another game before Selection Day. Meanwhile, Miami is 10-2 but doesn’t have a top 25 victory.
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It doesn’t sound like the order of these four teams will change, no matter what happens this weekend in conference championships.
“Any team that is not playing right now, we don’t have a data point to rearrange where we have those teams ranked,” CFP chair Warde Manuel said on ESPN. “That is set in terms of how we see them going into the final week of championship week. There’s nothing that’s going to change for us to evaluate any of them differently than we have now.
“Those teams who are not playing cannot be adjusted in terms of where they are compared to other teams that are not playing. But the championship teams, we will evaluate that data point to determine if there needs to be any movement based on how the performance of the game goes.”
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
Three-star defensive line recruit Christian Ingram signed with the South Carolina on Wednesday, committing to the Gamecocks over the USC Trojans and the Kentucky Wildcats, his other two finalists.
After announcing his commitment to South Carolina, Rivals’ Sam Spiegelman revealed part of the reason why Ingram chose the Gamecocks over the USC Trojans.
“The culture there is to work hard, take care of your brothers, and attack the day every day,” Ingram told Spiegelman. “I live by that standard.”
Defensive line recruit Christian Ingram on his visit to the USC Trojans. / @imcingram / Instagra
The Trojans were once viewed as the leaders in Ingram’s recruitment, but the defensive line recruit decided against the move to Southern California to play for USC coach Lincoln Riley’s program. Ingram is from Covington, Georgia, and as these recruitments come down to the wire, the distance between USC and some prospects’ hometowns feels larger and larger.
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Before finalizing his decision, Ingram visited both South Carolina and USC. The three-star recruit watched the Gamecocks host Wofford on Nov. 23, and the Trojans received the final visit from Ingram on Nov. 30 as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat USC in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
South Carolina is having success on the recruiting trail and on the field. Although the Gamecocks are not expected to make the College Football Playoff field, they finished the regular season with a 9-3 record led by coach Shane Beamer.
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Samford Bulldogs (7-2) at South Carolina State Bulldogs (4-5)
Orangeburg, South Carolina; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
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BOTTOM LINE: Samford looks to keep its three-game win streak alive when the Samford Bulldogs take on South Carolina State.
The South Carolina State Bulldogs have gone 2-0 in home games. South Carolina State is fourth in the MEAC scoring 77.1 points while shooting 45.5% from the field.
The Samford Bulldogs are 1-2 on the road. Samford scores 92.9 points and has outscored opponents by 15.3 points per game.
South Carolina State is shooting 45.5% from the field this season, 1.9 percentage points higher than the 43.6% Samford allows to opponents. Samford averages 24.0 more points per game (92.9) than South Carolina State gives up (68.9).
TOP PERFORMERS: Drayton Jones is scoring 11.6 points per game with 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists for the South Carolina State Bulldogs.
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Jaden Brownell is averaging 15.6 points for the Samford Bulldogs.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Dawn Staley and South Carolina really celebrated their national championship with Ring Pops and “Ring Us” shirts, and in our opinion, that’s the only way to do it.
On Monday, South Carolina got the chance to continue relishing in its historic run last season. The Gamecocks reflected on an undefeated record and a national championship in the only way you should — with complete shenanigans.
Those antics included Ring Pops (because why not?!) and custom shirts that said “Ring Us” for the whole team. Pretty sweet, right? However, that’s not nearly as awesome as the team’s actual rings. South Carolina received two pieces of totally iced-out jewelry for winning the SEC Championship and their national title.
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