Bama has made the playoffs every year, between Saban and his recruiting classes they deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Also, Utah being ranked 7th isn’t the floor. Utah would easily be leapfrogged by say Oklahoma or Penn State if they win out. Even if every other P5 champion finishes with a loss, they all will get in over a one loss Utah. And there are several blue bloods who could finish with one loss yet no championship and still would get in over Utah. Utah would need to blow out Oregon and watch all the contenders from all the other conferences suffer multiple losses.