A College Football Playoff bracket without Alabama, Notre Dame or any ACC team? How this scenario could happen

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee will be able to enjoy their Sunday morning coffee without much anxiety ahead of their final top 25 rankings reveal as long as conference championship weekend goes as expected. 

If not, there's a series of chaos scenarios that could summon nightmares for committee chair Hunter Yurachek and his team as they try and pick the seven best teams as at-large teams along with the five highest-ranked conference champions to fill their 12-team bracket.

Only one of the three teams on the bubble -- No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 11 BYU and No. 12 Miami -- will be in action Saturday with a chance to play its way into the playoff. The Cougars take on Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship Game and those watching from South Bend and South Florida will be rooting hard for the Red Raiders.

More on that scenario in a second ...

Duke beats Virginia in ACC Championship

So many results had to happen in November for the league's doomsday scenario to potentially come to fruition and here we are within the ACC. There's a chance commissioner Jim Phillips will be wide awake around midnight Saturday wondering if the ACC is kept out of the final bracket by the committee if unranked Duke takes out No. 17 Virginia in Charlotte.

The committee may have to decide between a five-loss Blue Devils team and potential Sun Belt champion James Madison for the final spot in the rankings as the fifth auto-bid. Let's compare the resumes and metrics for each, with acknowledgment that Duke beating a top-20 team this weekend would enhance those numbers a bit.

Duke currently holds zero wins over teams ranked inside the committee's top 25, the same number as 25th-ranked JMU. The two teams unfortunately do not share a common opponent, either. JMU's lone loss came against Louisville on the road, while Duke has setbacks against Illinois, Tulane, Georgia Tech, UConn and Virginia.

Strength of record and game control are two metrics that favor JMU. However, the strength of schedule gap is wide by comparison. Game control has been this committee's preferred metric the last four weeks and how these two teams look this weekend is extremely important. The Dukes are a three-touchdown favorite against Troy, while the Blue Devils are a 2.5-point underdog against the Cavaliers. 

Georgia blasts Alabama in SEC Championship

Alabama could make it easy on the committee during final deliberations by taking out the Bulldogs for a second time this season, securing a spot in the bracket as a likely top 4-seeded SEC champion. The other side of that equation would leave much room for debate and brings several bubble teams -- like Miami -- back into the mix. Would the committee leave Alabama (10-3) out entirely with a loss inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium?

It depends on how bad of a loss the Crimson Tide suffers. Alabama sliding ahead of Notre Dame to No. 9 in Tuesday's rankings update was a substantial positive, but Yurachek did say the committee would "re-rank" the entire top 25 after championship weekend and take into account final results.

There's been recent calls to end conference championship games in the expanded playoff era and this scenario would throw gasoline on that fire. This weekend, should the Crimson Tide lose, is an unnecessary 13th data point for the committee that could potentially torch Alabama's playoff bid. If the season ended today, Alabama would be the second-to-last at-large selection and one of five SEC teams in the field.

The idea of playing in the SEC Championship Game and missing out on the playoff with a loss would be stunning, according to Alabama's second-year coach Kalen DeBoer.

"That would blow my mind," DeBoer said after Alabama beat Auburn in the Iron Bowl. "That would be unreal. You know what I mean? We're 10-2 and 7-1 in the SEC, with all these ranked wins and we got some wins on the road. We got more a playoff-caliber team, there's not a question in my mind."

DeBoer said the win at Jordan-Hare Stadium should have clinched a spot for Alabama.

"I definitely do. Definitely believe that we've got that type of team," DeBoer said. "7-1 in the SEC and as many ranked teams as we have, and then winning a rivalry game here on the road shows a lot grit, what this team's all about. Yeah, I think it goes back to Week 1 and what you can believe and what people will tell you, who you are. It really comes to the character of this team really never wavered."

DeBoer won't have to do much politicking for his team in the playoff Saturday evening if Georgia wins. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey will be in front of the nearest microphone he can grab to do it for him.

BYU beats Texas Tech in Big 12 Championship

If Alabama beats Georgia and BYU wins the Big 12, seed Nos. 2 through 10 will be virtually unpredictable on Sunday with much fluctuation. If you're a fan of chaos, this is what you're rooting for unless you're a Notre Dame or Miami fan. BYU would be an unexpected bid-stealer of sorts as an auto-bid conference champion, knocking the 10th-ranked Fighting Irish from their current perch into -- let's be real -- an unwanted bowl game as consolation.

After Texas Tech beat BYU last month and handed the Cougars their only loss of the regular season, Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire used his post-game availability as an opportunity to beat the drum for one of his fellow Big 12 members in the at-large playoff discussion.

He delivered an uppercut to Notre Dame in the same breath.

"I have so much respect for BYU. I do," McGuire said. "I was really excited whenever they joined the Big 12 because I think that they carry a lot of weight and a lot of respect. I think that I have a lot of respect for them entering a conference and not playing an independent schedule like other people -- y'all already know who that is. 

"So, I have a lot of respect for that. I mean, they're earning their right just like everybody, but a couple of people in the nation, are earning their right through conference play and playing in some really tough places."

Since BYU has been slotted behind Notre Dame by the committee, the Cougars are not guaranteed to be selected unless they win their conference championship.