Ole Miss vs. Alabama: How Crimson Tide's Loss Impacts CFP Picture, Rankings

It turns out history does repeat itself.

No. 15 Ole Miss defeated No. 2 Alabama on Saturday night, 43-37, its second consecutive win over the Crimson Tide. It is also the first time since 1988 that Ole Miss has won on the road in Tuscaloosa.

This Alabama loss will send shock waves through the college football rankings. There will be at least one new team in the top four with Ole Miss making a nice case for itself with the win.

Here is what I think the top-25 polls might look like come next week. For the current AP and Amway Coaches polls, click here:

Rank	Team	Week 3 Rank
1	Ohio State	1
2	TCU	3
3	Michigan State	4
4	Baylor	5
5	Ole Miss	15
6	Georgia	7
7	Notre Dame	8
8	Florida State	9
9	Oregon	12
10	Clemson	11
11	Alabama	2
12	LSU	13
13	Oklahoma	16
14	Texas A&M	17
15	BYU	19
16	Arizona	20
17	Utah	21
18	Stanford	Unranked
19	UCLA	10
20	Georgia Tech	14
21	USC	6
22	Northwestern	23
23	Wisconsin	24
24	Oklahoma State	25
25	Missouri	22

Though No. 3 TCU had some problems with SMU, I'd anticipate seeing it move up to the No. 2 spot with Michigan State and Baylor, which was inactive this week, moving up a spot, respectively.

Ole Miss should hop up to No. 4, but I'm not sure the polls should punish Baylor because it didn't have a game scheduled this week. So my guess is that Ole Miss will be No. 5 next week.  

CBSSports.com's Sam Vecine is pondering the same thing:

USC joins Alabama as the only teams in the top six to go down this week, but Alabama's drop might be less severe. While USC should be headed toward the bottom of the rankings, Alabama might stay inside the top 15 having been beaten by one of the most impressive teams in the nation this season. 

Alabama will need some breaks if it wants to make it back to the College Football Playoff for the second straight season. The Tide will need teams such as Notre Dame, Florida State, Baylor, Oregon and Ole Miss, to name just a few, to lose at least once this season to open the door for them. 

That still doesn't mean Alabama is completely out of the race. A difficult schedule might save it down the road if it does manage to get some breaks. In fact, some think that's going to happen, like USA Today's Laken Litman:

The loss could hurt No. 7 Georgia a bit, which impressively took down South Carolina on Saturday. With the two teams set to play October 3, a Georgia win over an unbeaten Alabama could have hurdled them to a top-two position. 

It only took three weeks, but a team that was ranked in the preseason top four will be making its way out. With a number of undefeated sides that are on the fringe of the final playoff spot, the college football season is about to heat up quickly. 

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com