Alabama Football: Not counting out the Tide Rule No. 1 in CFB
By Ronald Evans
For Alabama Football, two Saturdays in September are ancient history. Over the last two Saturdays, order was restored for the Alabama Crimson Tide. And as it was, the CFB world was reminded; don’t ever count out Nick Saban and Alabama.
When the Playoff rankings came out Sunday morning, the CFB Playoff Selection Committee salvaged the integrity of the Playoff selection process. Picking the four best teams was acknowledged as more important than anything else.
It can be fairly argued from a Georgia perspective that the Bulldogs are a better team than Washington and Michigan. But ‘four best’ does require a strong finish and that cannot happen without a Power Five championship.
After Boo Corrigan had previously swooned over Bo Nix’s completion percentage, there was considerable doubt the current Selection Committee had enough football knowledge to assess a ‘four best teams’ standard. Corrigan and the committee proved that wrong.
In explaining why the committee selected Alabama over Florida State, Corrigan made a very interesting comment,
"The questions we do ask from a coaching standpoint is who do you want to play and who do you not want to play."
Any college football expert with a sound mind would conclude playing against Alabama will be far tougher than playing against Florida State. No fan of the Seminoles will agree, but Boo Corrigan was 100% correct when he said,
"Florida State is a different team than it was the first 11 weeks"
A very similar statement can be made about the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Alabama Football Playoff Cred
- SEC Champion
- 11-game winning streak
- Highest-ranked Strength of Schedule (SOS) of all the Playoff contenders (per ESPN)
- Four wins over teams ranked by the Playoff Selection Committee
- Top CFB win of the season, beating the Georgia Bulldogs
There will be whining, wailing, gnashing of teeth, and orchestrated histrionics by some college football pundits. All of which it is best to ignore. Alabama Football earned its standing in the CFB Playoff field.
What comes next for the Alabama Crimson Tide?
Though the travel will be a chore, a large contingent of Alabama football fans will gladly make their way to Pasadena, CA for the Rose Bowl. For the millions of Bama fans who will watch on television, one Crimson Tide fan described it best, saying the only thing that would make it better would be Keith Jackson doing the game.
The Rose Bowl semi-final will feature college football’s winningest programs. Alabama will play Michigan on Monday, Jan. 1 at 4:00 PM CST.
