Ranking 1-loss teams by best chance of making the playoff - ESPN

Trailing 20-7 against Tennessee on Saturday, Alabama coach Nick Saban said he told his team at halftime they had a choice to make.

«What do you want to accomplish?» he asked them, «What do you want to do? Everybody's got to choose what they want.»

With 27 unanswered points in the second half, Alabama's choice was resounding — it wants to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation and make a case as the nation's top one-loss team. It will have some competition for that distinction, though, including from the team the Tide lost to in Week 2 — Texas.

There's also Utah. Oregon. Oregon State. Ole Miss. And Mizzou?! Penn State also joined the club on Saturday following its loss at Ohio State. They're all in good company, as 22 of the 36 teams to make the CFP have had a loss (61%). In 2017, all four CFP teams had a loss, including Alabama, which went on to win the national title. Alabama has finished in the top four with a loss four previous times (2014, 2015, 2017 and 2021) and won the national title twice, according to ESPN's Stats & Information research.

Stumbling once is the norm in the CFP era — going undefeated is not.

None of them have any margin for error, though. No team has made the playoff with two losses.

«I know this, there's a lot of things we want to get right,» Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after his team's win against Washington State. «We can do better. I know the quality of players we have in that room. We have to execute at a higher level moving forward.»

They all do. So how do they stack up? And what do they need to happen?

Below is a ranking of the one-loss teams with the best chance to reach the College Football Playoff:

Quinn Ewers throws a big 42-yard TD pass to Xavier Worthy, giving Texas a 14-0