It’s finally selection Sunday for them College Football Playoffs. There is an important question that the selection committee also wants to answer. Should that Alabama Crimson Tide or the SMU Mustangs Can you make it to the playoffs?

The other teams in the field seem to be fighting more for position than whether they will make the playoffs. That appears to still have one spot left in the new 12-team field based on previous rankings and results in the conference championship games. That depends on Alabama and SMU, both of which seem to have strong arguments for making the playoffs.

So, ahead of these final rankings, ESPN broke down the resumes for Alabama and SMU Sports centerhighlighting four key factors.

Alabama
Record strength: 9
Game control: 6
FPI: 6
Strength of Schedule: 16

SMU
Record strength: 15
Game control: 12
FPI: 13
Strength of Schedule: 60

SMU, an ACC team, finished the season 11-2 and lost the ACC Championship Game on a last-second field goal Clemson. Their other loss was a 10 win BYU team at the start of the season. Now the question is whether the loss to Clemson would be enough to eliminate them from the playoffs.

Alabama’s side finished the regular season 9-3 and missed the SEC Championship Game. All of their losses came in SEC play against Vanderbilt, TennesseeAnd Oklahoma. They also earned a commanding victory over the conference champions Georgia. Overcomes South Carolina And Missouri are also very popular for the Crimson Tide.

In each of the key metrics ESPN shared Sports centerAlabama is ranked higher than SMU. What stands out the most is the Strength of Schedule metric, where the Mustangs are ranked 60th in the country, reflecting that they are in the ACC and playing that schedule, compared to the SEC schedule rating.

Still, analyst Paul Finebaum continued to express a bleak assessment of Alabama’s chances of making the College Football Playoff.

“If you were to sit in Alabama and say, ‘Let’s imagine the worst case scenario for ourselves’ – that’s what happened last night in Charlotte. Alabama was in the playoffs until the fourth quarter because SMU didn’t look playoff-worthy, and then everything changed. And what you have to think is that the committee sitting in this big room watching the game all have something to do with athletics. They respect competition,” Finebaum said.

“When SMU came back, I think everything changed in that room. I think they felt that way Rhett Lashlee said it was probably criminal. In reality it wouldn’t be criminal, but that’s the perception. I think what Alabama brought to the game last year will ultimately keep Alabama out.”

The final College Football Playoff rankings are expected to be announced on Sunday, December 8th at 12:00 p.m. EST.