The Gophers suffered a precipitous 10-spot drop in the latest College Football Playoff ranking Tuesday, falling from No. 8 to 18 after a 38-17 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday.

The drop begged for a follow-up question: Will the higher prestige Big Ten-affiliated bowls follow suit in a revised pecking order and also downgrade the Gophers?

Not likely. It looks like Minnesota remains pegged for the Outback Bowl on New Year’s Day bowl in Tampa, Fla.

But as dust settled on the complete rankings, a better question arose: Will the Gophers now face vaunted Alabama and legendary coach Nick Saban?

While the top of the College Football Playoff ranking remained unchanged — No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Louisiana State, No. 3 Clemson and No. 4 Georgia — the next tier saw upheaval from last week. No. 5 Alabama lost to in-state rival Auburn and No. 8 Minnesota fell to Wisconsin Iin the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.

This created a new second tier: No. 5 Utah; No. 6 Oklahoma; No. 7 Baylor; and No. 8 Wisconsin.

ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura saw the Crimson Tide’s fall to 12th, looked ahead and tweeted: “The rankings this week set up a strong possibility that 10-2 Baylor could wind up in the (‘New Year’s Six’ bowls, likely the Cotton) ahead of 10-2 Alabama. Auburn (then goes to the Citrus and Alabama to the Outback Bowl.”

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm also has Baylor in the “New Year’s Six” top tier of bowls, as does Stadium’s Brett McMurphy, who slots Minnesota vs. Alabama.

How about that wild prospect? The Gophers might draw a dynastic Alabama program that has been in the last four national championships and won two (2015 and 2017).

This year’s Alabama (10-2) is in this relatively diminished spot after losing to No. 2 LSU, having star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffer a season-ending hip injury and then fell to Auburn, 48-45, in the Iron Bowl.

Whether or not this daunting matchup happens for Minnesota will have to wait until the conference championship games play out Saturday, followed by the final CFP rankings and subsequent the bowl berths Sunday.

While Minnesota might have fallen below Wisconsin, Penn State, Michigan and Iowa in the CFP ranking Tuesday, the Outback Bowl remains the U’s likely destination because the bowl reportedly need to have five different teams in six-year period.