College Football Playoff chair tells why Alabama is ranked No. 5, several spots ahead of Tennessee

The College Football Playoff Committee Chairman Hunter Yurachek discussed why Alabama is ranked No. 5 in the first rankings of the season.

“I think you look first at Alabama went on the road and beat the team that we have ranked six this week in Kentucky,” Yurachek said. “They also beat South Carolina, who’s ranked in the top 25, and then, I think, many forget that they went on the road and beat Mississippi State when Mississippi State was undefeated and at full strength, and we really valued that as a strong win for Alabama back there in the early part of the season, when Mississippi, again, they had that quarterback, Kamario Taylor, that was very, very good, and Mississippi State was on a roll at that time. And so, with those, we see those as three quality wins. 
Yes, they had a loss to Tennessee. Tennessee doesn’t have the same level of quality wins. They do have the win against Alabama, but you have to go a little bit deeper to see Tennessee with another quality win on their schedule.”

Yurachek went on to say why Alabama was in front of Kentucky while Indiana was in front of Ohio State. Alabama beat Kentucky earlier this season, and Ohio State beat Indiana.

“When you’re trying to compare teams head to head, they have to be in the same pod to be compared head to head,” Yurachek said. “Alabama, Kentucky, were in the same pod. They were compared because of their head-to-head matchup, and so Alabama got the nod ahead of Kentucky because of that, but we never got to a point where we were comparing Indiana and Ohio State, and they’re head-to-head.”

No. 5 Alabama will take on LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday.