Considering Alabama is the best team left out of the playoff based on the playoff committee's final rankings, it seems like a punishment for them to be playing Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
It is going to be hard enough to get players to not opt out when not in the playoff and for fans to care about outside bowl games, and this game doesn't help at all. There is a long list of teams I would have much rather seen the Crimson Tide play than the Wolverines again. I am wondering what was the rationale in thinking this was a game that had to be played.
A rematch of last year's semifinal game in a "meaningless" bowl game just isn't it at all. Why couldn't they have found a way for Alabama to play Miami, Colorado, or even BYU? The Alamo Bowl will have Colorado playing conference foe BYU, so that lets me know it would have been possible for Alabama to play Ole Miss in a bowl game. All these options would have been more intriguing than the game we will see on New Year's Eve in Tampa.
The only good thing coming from this game will be young players getting plenty of snaps on both sides of the ball. It will be interesting to see who will be under center at quarterback for Alabama, and that may be the most intriguing thing going into that game. There has been much talk about Jalen Milroe either going to get ready for the NFL Draft or jumping into the transfer portal if not. I am sure we will know more in the next week or two about that situation.
Honestly, I think I am more disappointed in having a 7-5 opponent in the bowl game than being left out by this year's playoff committee at this point.