Like many across the college football world, Paul Finebaum watched Tuesday night’s release of the College Football Playoff’s penultimate Top 25 ranking with great anticipation.

And the SEC Network host wasn’t disappointed.

The 13-member College Football Playoff committee ignited another round of furious debate over what is expected to be the final at-large bid in its 12-team field when it ranked Alabama (9-3) at 11, one spot ahead of No. 12 Miami (10-2), sending fans of both the ACC and SEC into a frenzy.

To no one’s surprise, Finebaum agreed with the committee’s decision.

“I believe it was (the right choice), and I think (CFP committee chairman) Warde Manuel laid it out that Alabama’s resume is better against quality teams,” Finebaum said Wednesday morning on ESPN’s Get Up. “I’m sure people across the country, especially in South Florida, are screaming about that right now. But ultimately Miami did themselves in at the very end.

“Alabama has a ghoulish loss against Oklahoma othe next to the last weekend of the year. But what happened to Miami, they had a 21-0 lead at Syracuse and they collapsed, they gave the game away. And then Mario Cristobal had a chance to go for broke on fourth-and-10 and he kicked a field goal, which didn’t change very much, and he never got the ball back. I think that’s going to sting with them the rest of the season.”

Warde Manuel explains CFP committee’s decision-making process

CFP chairman and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel explained the ultimate factor in the committee’s decision to rank a three-loss Crimson Tide over the two-loss Hurricanes came down to how each team faired against the rest of the teams currently in the committee’s Top 25.

“What it came down to is as we evaluated both teams and looked at how they rank, obviously we think highly of both teams,” Manuel said Tuesday night. “One’s at 11, one’s at 12. But what it really came down to is Alabama is 3-1 against current top 25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami’s 4-2. Both have had some losses that weren’t what they wanted out of those games. But in the last three games, Miami has lost twice.”

Of course, with conference championships remaining to be played before the reveal of the first expanded College Football Playoff field on Sunday, there is potential for more changes on Selection Day.

Because of that, expect Finebaum to be glued into Sunday night’s ACC Championship Game between No. 8 SMU (11-1) and No. 17 Clemson (9-3) at 8 pm ET on ABC. Should the Tigers pull off the upset in Charlotte, thus securing a Playoff bid as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions, it could throw the entire field into chaos.

“But to me, … the last remaining piece of this puzzle (is) – and Warde Manuel took a lot of the air out of the balloon – but … what happens if SMU loses to Clemson?” Finebaum asked. “Originally, we thought that the conference champion (teams) would be protected – not Clemson because they got in the back door – but now SMU might be hanging by a thread too if they don’t win that game.”

How the commitee ultimately rules on its first 12-team field will be ripe for debate, no matter what conference you call home.

Danny Kanell rips CFP committee over Alabama, Miami ranking

Danny Kanell was fuming after seeing where Miami and Alabama were ranked in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday. The Hurricanes moved down six spots to No. 12 following their upset loss against Syracuse, being leapfrogged by the Crimson Tide, who came in at No. 11.

This happened despite the fact that Miami has only two losses compared to three for Alabama. Kanell took to social media following the release of the rankings and accused the CFP committee of favoring the Crimson Tide because of their brand name.

“Things never change,” the college football analyst wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Brands over merit.”

Of course, Alabama has had plenty of success in the past under the four-team College Football Playoff format. The Crimson Tide have appeared in the playoff eight times since its inception in 2014 and won the championship three of those times.