The exact result Alabama football needed not to happen in the ACC title game … happened.

The Crimson Tide needed either an SMU win or a Clemson blowout win. Either was fine and would probably get Alabama into the College Football Playoff.

Then Clemson beat SMU on a last-second field goal.

That meant the Tigers got an automatic bid as a conference champion for the first 12-team CFP, and SMU found itself needing an at-large bid to still make the playoff.

And the Mustangs got it. The CFP committee released their final CFP rankings Sunday morning, and Alabama was on the outside looking in. The Crimson Tide was the first team out of the playoffs, and SMU got the final at-large spot with the No. 11 seed.

This seemed like a possibility two weeks ago when the Crimson Tide lost 24-3 to a struggling Oklahoma team on the road. That was Alabama’s third loss of the season, and a bad one at that.

Then the committee gave the Crimson Tide some hope. In the penultimate CFP rankings this past Tuesday, Alabama moved up to No. 11 over Miami, Ole Miss and South Carolina. That meant, if the season ended Tuesday, the Crimson Tide was the last team in the field.

But the season didn’t end Tuesday. Conference championship games played out Saturday, and the exact result Alabama needed didn’t happen. SMU, who was ranked ahead of Alabama before the weekend, stayed ranked ahead of the Crimson Tide.

Now Alabama will turn its attention to building the roster for the 2025 season and its bowl game. The transfer portal opens up Monday. The bowl game won’t be played until the end of the month and will be announced later Sunday.

No matter what happens this offseason, Alabama will be left wondering what if it hadn’t lost game to Oklahoma and Vanderbilt in 2024 and how it fixes the inconsistency moving forward into year .

Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.