Alabama football didn’t get in. The Crimson Tide was one spot outside of the College Football Playoff field, with SMU taking the final spot in the bracket ahead of UA.

The Mustangs fell in the ACC championship game on Saturday, a game that was just its second loss of the season, compared to three for Alabama. However, SMU lacked the marquee wins the Crimson Tide had.

In the end though, UA’s losses to unranked Vanderbilt and Oklahoma doomed its 2024 season. CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel said as much during the ESPN selection show broadcast.

“We looked at the number of wins Alabama had against ranked opponents,” Manuel said. “We looked at SMU’s schedule. They were undefeated in-conference. Their losses were to ranked teams. But we also looked at Alabama’s losses to unranked teams. It was quite a debate.”

Alabama had flaunted its strength of schedule when arguing its case for the CFP. Manuel acknowledged that, and said the Tide was rewarded for the tough games, despite being left out of the field.

“We value strength of schedule,” Manuel said. “That’s why Alabama as a three-loss team is ranked ahead of other teams that have two losses. We felt like in this case SMU had the nod above Alabama, but it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule.”

SMU dropped the ACC championship game Saturday in Charlotte, losing to Clemson on a last-second field goal. Early on, it appeared the Tigers were going to win in a blowout, but the Mustangs battled back to make the game close.

Manuel praised how SMU played in that game.

“We looked at the game they played,” Manuel said. “SMU played a game against Clemson and lost by three. And so for us, it just came down to watching the games, we watched those games together, seeing the outcome of those games and how those teams played. They earned the right to be in those conference championships, and we value watching those games and seeing the results.”

Alabama will learn its bowl fate later on Sunday.