This is an opinion column.

“Buy the ticket, take the ride.” — Hunter S. Thompson.

For the past week, Alabama’s been a passenger in this College Football Playoff scenario machine.

That wave crested Tuesday night when a No. 11 ranking in the penultimate CFP ranking made the Crimson Tide the winner of the triple losers (and Miami).

From there, things got squirrely.

That’s life riding shotgun on a road paved with boulders and peppered with trapdoors. The action Saturday night was a disorienting trip down forked paths for what Alabama needed out of the ACC championship.

Seeing SMU fall behind 24-7, the Crimson Tide became Clemson fans for a blowout.

Then, when the Mustangs made their dramatic comeback, Alabama had to swap sides. From 17 down to a tied game with just seconds to play, SMU needed to win and was doing its part.

Suddenly, a big Clemson kickoff return, a quick pass and finally a 56-yard field goal.

And poof.

Worst-case scenario for Alabama.

The 34-31 Clemson win on the game’s final play was the last thing the Crimson Tide needed with the 13-member selection committee watching in suburban Dallas.

A blowout SMU loss would’ve played nicely for Alabama’s case, especially considering it beat newly-crowned SEC champ Georgia.

But a buzzer-beating SMU loss makes denying the Mustangs untenable for the structure of the playoffs and the conferences who organize it. Shutting out a league title game participant who fought back from 17-down in the fourth quarter would forever destabilize the already shaky framework built by the commissioners who build the playoff structure.

If SMU played the final three quarters like it did in the first, Alabama all day.

But they didn’t.

This is where eye test becomes a serious factor and SMU passed it. The Mustangs gained 458 yards to Clemson’s 326. SMU had 28 first downs compared to Clemson’s 18.

SMU’s not better than Alabama but the committee’s hand is pretty much forced given the circumstances.

It’s messy.

And Alabama still has an argument, one that AD Greg Byrne made on social media after Saturday’s games.

But that’s the issue when you take the ride via ticket instead of playing the game.

Alabama did this to itself.

It’s what happens when you lose at Vanderbilt.

Don’t want to sweat out championship Saturday? Don’t take a 24-3 loss at an Oklahoma team that entered 5-5 overall and 1-5 in the SEC.

Don’t let this be a debate.

A year ago, Alabama was in one of these toss-ups in the final year of the four-team field. After beating Georgia in the SEC championship, we said the one-loss Crimson Tide should get the call over unbeaten Florida State for the final spot.

The committee agreed, Alabama ultimately lost in overtime of the Rose Bowl semifinal and Florida State’s never been the same.

Now, that same governing body must assess a three-loss Alabama team with an ACC finalist who lost its second game Saturday night. The overwhelming sentiment is behind SMU given the way it played while Alabama left its fate in the hands of others.

Alabama will point to its three wins over CFP-ranked teams and the fact that SMU is 0-2 against ranked teams. If that was the only data point, the choice is clearly Alabama.

But slam the door on SMU and the future of conference title games and the cash they produce fall into question. Mustang coach Rhett Lashley this week said there would be no reason for a team inside the top 12 to play in a league championship game if it can get jumped by an idle team.

That case would’ve been weaker with a blowout loss Saturday, but SMU’s margin couldn’t have been thinner. There would be a revolution if nuclear-blast-resistant Alabama jumped a team that lost on a 56-yard field goal that cleared the crossbar by a foot.

SMU could’ve made it easy, but Alabama got the ticket for which it paid.

Now it’s likely getting a ride to Orlando for the Citrus Bowl because that’s what happens when you leave it to others.

The Tennessee loss was survivable. Vanderbilt and Oklahoma would be an either instead of an and if Alabama didn’t want to be sweating out an ugly ACC title game between teams that would be mid-pack in the SEC.

If Alabama wants to hold out hope, the committee could always make schedule strength the deciding factor. The fact Miami had no ranked wins sounded like the deciding factor when Alabama was above the Hurricanes last week. SMU has the same number of ranked wins.

But if the sport wants to avoid conference championship boycotts, SMU will get that final spot.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.