Pat Forde: Not even CFB Playoff committee can help Bama with loss to LSU

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Part of the beauty of being Alabama is that you never have to apologize for a loss. There's always an explanation for why it shouldn't be held against the Crimson Tide.

There seems to be someone ever-ready to offer a rationalization for the occasional Tide stumble. Or, in the latest case, a committee of someones.

The College Football Playoff selection committee this week scrubbed the résumés of all the top teams, eyeballed 'Bama's 43-37 home loss to Mississippi and collectively said, "So what?" It ranked the Tide No. 4 in its first top 25 of 2015 – and while early November rankings don't mean much, it's an awfully cushy starting spot for a program that is accustomed to getting its way.

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So, yes, it's good to be 'Bama. As in years past, losses can be excused.

The playoff semifinal bust against Ohio State last year? The NFL draft deadline interfered with the preparation focus. Nick Saban said so in July.

The regular-season loss to Ole Miss last year? Didn't stop the Tide from being the No. 1 seed in last year's playoff, ahead of four other one-loss teams and one unbeaten.

The Sugar Bowl flop against Oklahoma to end the 2013 season? No motivation after Iron Bowl shocker. (Just as there was no motivation against massive underdog Utah in the Sugar Bowl five years earlier.)

And that Iron Bowl loss itself? A fluke – plus an illegal forward pass for Auburn's penultimate touchdown. Don't forget that. Alabama only dropped three spots in the polls after that one.

How about the home loss to Texas A&M in 2012? LSU hangover. Move on.

And the LSU home loss in 2011? Aberration, subsequently rectified in the all-SEC BCS championship game – a game that did much to hasten the demise of the BCS. Alabama dropped just two spots in the human polls after that loss, from No. 2 to No. 4, making it easy to work back into the BCS top two.

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