Alabama No. 5, Auburn 4-4: Iron Bowl Path, Nov. 4

The College Football Playoff selection committee released its first rankings of 2026 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, for games played through Oct. 31. Alabama is No. 5. Ole Miss, which beat Auburn 45-15 on Oct. 31, is No. 10. Auburn is 4-4, 2-4 in SEC play, and is not in the top 25. Alabama plays at No. 14 LSU on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC. Auburn hosts Arkansas the same day at Jordan-Hare Stadium, at 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network. They still meet on Saturday, Nov. 28, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Both schedules still list that kickoff as Flex, with no time and no network.

Where the first ranking put them

Miami is No. 1 at 8-0, Georgia is No. 2 at 7-1, Utah is No. 3 at 8-0, and Indiana is No. 4 at 8-1. Alabama, at 6-2, is the first two-loss team on the list. Kentucky is No. 6 at 7-1. Ole Miss is No. 10 at 6-2. Tennessee is No. 13 at 6-2. LSU is No. 14 at 6-2. South Carolina is No. 21 at 5-3. The committee's release and NCAA.com print those ranks and records the same way. Auburn is on neither top 25. The committee's release calls this the 73rd edition of its rankings and says Alabama and Ohio State are the only programs to appear in all 73.

Auburn's schedule records a 27-24 win at Georgia on Oct. 17. Georgia is No. 2 in this ranking, and NCAA.com notes that the Bulldogs' loss came to unranked Auburn. Ole Miss is No. 10 after the 45-15 win in Oxford. Auburn's schedule lists that game as a 15-45 loss. No. 2 Georgia visits No. 10 Ole Miss on Nov. 7, the same Saturday Alabama is in Baton Rouge and Arkansas is at Jordan-Hare.

The next committee rankings are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 10, at about 9 p.m. ET. This list is the first of the season. It does not set the 12-team field. NCAA.com's reading of the current format would give the top four first-round byes and would send the No. 5 seed into a home first-round game. That is a picture of this week's order, not a berth.

The road win the committee kept

Alabama's schedule lists a 56-23 win at Mississippi State on Oct. 3. Mississippi State's schedule lists the same game as a 23-56 loss. The Bulldogs were 4-0 entering that Saturday. They are 4-4 and 2-4 in SEC play now, and the losses are four in a row.

Committee chair Hunter Yurachek said on ESPN that the earlier result still counted. "I think many forget that they went on the road and beat Mississippi State when Mississippi State was undefeated and at full strength," he said. "We really valued that as a strong win for Alabama." He put that game with the road win over Kentucky, No. 6 in this ranking, and the win over South Carolina, No. 21, and treated the three as quality wins. AL.com and On3 both reported those remarks from the rankings show.

Tennessee beat Alabama 26-10 in Knoxville on Oct. 17 and is No. 13. Alabama's other loss was 17-20 against Georgia in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 10. Alabama's athletic department still has the Crimson Tide at 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC, 4-1 at home and 2-1 on the road. The Nov. 1 path left those records in place through the open date. They are still the records on Nov. 4. Neither team has played since Oct. 31.

Saturday, then the road to Tuscaloosa

Four wins leave Auburn two short of six. The four games left are Arkansas at Jordan-Hare on Nov. 7, at Mississippi State on Nov. 14, Samford on Nov. 21, and Alabama on Nov. 28. Two wins from that list would make Auburn 6-6. One of the four is the Iron Bowl, on the road, in the stadium where Auburn's last win was 28-27 in 2010. Bowl eligibility can be settled before that trip. It can also still be open on Nov. 28.

Alabama is already at six wins. A loss at LSU would make the Crimson Tide 6-3 and 4-3 in the SEC, with Vanderbilt, Chattanooga, and Auburn left. A win would make Alabama 7-2 and 5-2, with those same three games and the Iron Bowl still at home. LSU is 6-2 in the committee's record column and No. 14 in the ranking. The Nov. 7 game is the first chance for the No. 5 ranking to move.

Date	Alabama (6-2, 4-2), No. 5	Auburn (4-4, 2-4)
Nov. 7	at No. 14 LSU, 2:30 p.m. CT, ABC	Arkansas, 11:45 a.m. CT, SEC Network
Nov. 14	at Vanderbilt, 11:45 a.m. CT, SEC Network	at Mississippi State, 11 a.m. CT
Nov. 21	Chattanooga, 1 p.m. CT, SEC Network+	Samford, 2:30 p.m. CT
Nov. 28	Auburn, Flex, Bryant-Denny Stadium	at Alabama, Flex

The Nov. 14 games now have clock times. On Nov. 1, both were still printed as the SEC's early window. Alabama's schedule lists Vanderbilt at 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network. Auburn's schedule and Mississippi State's schedule both list Starkville at 11 a.m. CT. Chattanooga remains 1 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. Samford remains 2:30 p.m. CT at Jordan-Hare. Nov. 28 is still Flex on both schedules. Neither page lists a kickoff time or a network for the Iron Bowl.

The series count is unchanged. Alabama leads 52-37-1. The Tide has won the last six meetings, including 28-14 in Tuscaloosa in 2024 and 27-20 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2025. The Nov. 28 game is at Bryant-Denny Stadium, on Alabama's home designation, after the games in the table. Alabama is No. 5 in the first playoff ranking. Auburn is unranked and two wins short of six. The kickoff in Tuscaloosa is still waiting on a time and a network.

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