Alabama football bowl game: Projections, live updates from selection day

Nick Kelly, The Tuscaloosa News

December 4, 2022 at 3:11 PM·3 min read

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Alabama football is expected to head to the Sugar Bowl to face Kansas State.

The No. 5 Crimson Tide (10-2) will miss the College Football Playoff for only the second time in its history. Alabama also missed the 2019 playoff. It started in 2014. Another year passes in which a two-loss team has not made the playoff.

Alabama was going to need some chaos to even have a shot Sunday to be in the four-team field. There was chaos. USC and No. 3 TCU couldn't find ways to win their conference championships. USC lost 47-24 to Utah in the Pac-12 championship game Friday. Then, TCU lost 31-28 to Kansas State in overtime on Saturday in the Big 12 championship game. USC has two losses, one bad, and TCU has a loss. Still, that wasn't enough chaos to get the Crimson Tide in the playoff.

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The Sugar Bowl is the expected destination for the Crimson Tide because the highest-ranked SEC team not in the CFP goes to New Orleans for this game at 11 a.m. CT on Dec. 31. It will be broadcast on ESPN.

Jan. 1 falls on a Sunday, which would conflict with NFL games. It can't be moved to Monday, Jan. 3 because ESPN has Monday Night Football in the primetime slot. So 11 a.m. kickoff on Dec. 31 becomes the best option.

How did Alabama end up as the top SEC team outside of Georgia? LSU's losing 38-23 in the final game of the regular season to Texas A&M moved Alabama ahead of the Tigers, despite losing to LSU in overtime in Baton Rouge at the beginning of November. Then the Tigers got stomped by No. 1 Georgia 50-30 in the SEC Championship Game Saturday. That gave the Tigers a fourth loss. LSU had already fallen to No. 11 in the CFP rankings before the SEC Championship Game.

Tennessee had been positioned at No. 7 heading into the final weekend. The Vols beat Alabama on a last-second field goal in Knoxville in October, but Tennessee lost 63-38 to No. 20 South Carolina on Nov. 19.

Follow along here for the latest updates, news and projections ahead of official announcements on selection day on Sunday (11 a.m., ESPN).

Sugar Bowl is official

The Crimson Tide will face No. 9 Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl, ESPN announced Sunday afternoon.

Sugar Bowl becomes expected destination

With Alabama out of the playoff and ranked No. 5, the Sugar Bowl is the expected bowl game for the Crimson Tide.

Sunday morning bowl game projections for Alabama football

Ahead of the official announcement in a few hours, the Sugar Bowl continues to be the popular pick for the Crimson Tide.

CBS' Jerry Palm has Alabama matched up with Kansas State in the Dec. 31 game. Action Network's Brett McMurphy continues to predict the same for the Crimson Tide in his final projections.