Kalen DeBoer failed to lead the Alabama Crimson Tide to an SEC championship in his debut campaign after Nick Saban's retirement. The team finished the 2024 regular season with a 9-3 (5-3 SEC Conference) record, leading to many fans being disappointed with the outcome. However, Alabama still has a chance of competing in the new 12-team playoffs. According to the latest college football playoff rankings after Week 14, the selection committee ranked the Crimson Tide at No. 11 — one spot above the Miami Hurricanes. This means that unless the momentum changes drastically this weekend during the championship games, then the Crimson Tide will get the final at-large team bid in the playoffs over Miami. On ESPN, chair of the selection committee Manuel Warde shared details about why they ranked Alabama over Miami. He stated that the Crimson Tide had a tougher schedule than Miami. He also said that they had three wins over ranked opponents, while the Hurricanes lacked in that category."What it came down to is we evaluated both teams and looked at how they ranked... What it really came down to is Alabama is 3 and 1 against current top 25 teams and Miami is 0 and 1. Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami is 4-2. Both have had some losses that weren't what they wanted.""But in the last three games, Miami has lost twice. So for us, in evaluating their body of work, we felt that Alabama got an edge over Miami."In the last three games, the Miami Hurricanes lost to Georgia Tech and Syracuse while winning against Wake Forest. On the other hand, Kalen DeBoer's team won against Mercer and Auburn. However, they did succumb to a disappointing 24-3 loss at the hands of Oklahoma.Miami AD Dan Radakovich was unhappy with his team being ranked behind the Crimson Tide. He took to social media to share his frustration and questioned the choices made by the selection committee."Really??... what put Bama over the top of Miami for the last spot in is that Miami went 1-2 in their last 3 games (by an average of 4.5 pts, to a ranked Syracuse and GT team that just took UGA to 8OT). Bama went 2-1 (to 5- Auburn, destroyed by OU, and beat FCS Mercer)."Has Alabama secured a concrete spot in the playoffs?Despite being ranked No. 11, the Crimson Tide are yet to be a definitive playoff contestant this season. Their future depends on how the conference championship games play out this weekend.If Clemson beats SMU to win the ACC title, then the Mustangs will be a potential candidate since they are a two-loss team currently ranked ahead of the Crimson Tide. The same applies to the Mountain West title showdown between Boise State and UNLV. If UNLV wins the conference title, then Boise State will remain in the discussion about securing a playoff spot.Thus, it is still unsure if Kalen DeBoer will have a reason to celebrate his debut campaign with the team. After humiliating losses to teams like Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma, he will have to prioritize helping the team level up their standard of play next season.