A 29-point win by Notre Dame over Stanford was not enough to keep the Irish ahead of Alabama in the latest College Football Playoff rankings.

The Crimson Tide jumped the Irish for the nine spot, leaving Notre Dame precariously perched at #10 entering conference championship weekend.

“I will tell you that the debate between Alabama and Notre Dame the past three weeks has been one of the strongest debates we’ve had in the room for the past two years that I’ve been a member of the committee,” CFP selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek, the athletic director at Arkansas, said on ESPN’s rankings release show Tuesday night. “Notre Dame went on the road, had a strong win at Stanford. But Alabama went on the road, in a rivalry game, and looked really good, especially in the first half.”

With five conference champions guaranteed spots in the 12-team field, the Irish would have to stay at #10 in order to make the playoffs, as spots 11 and 12 will go to either the ACC champion or two teams from the Group of Five. But a win by #11 BYU over fourth-ranked Texas Tech in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game would almost certainly knock Notre Dame out of the playoffs.

Furthermore, Miami lurks at #12 and will continue to hammer away at the committee over its 27-24 win over Notre Dame back in August.

“Idle teams can move following the results of the championship games,” Yurachek said with specific regard to Miami and Notre Dame. “Teams that are idle can move up or down.”

Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia and Texas Tech comprise this week’s top four and would get first-round byes if they hold their positions after Sunday’s final rankings. Oregon is 5th, followed by Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama and Notre Dame.

If the rankings did not change, Notre Dame would head to Texas A&M for the first round in a rematch of the game the Aggies won 41-40 on September 13