Why Alabama's College Football Playoff hopes may not recover from stunning loss to Vandy
The changes across the college football landscape have opened the door for mistakes to be made, but the Alabama Crimson Tide just made an error that could shut their College Football Playoff window completely. One week after an emotional win against Georgia, Alabama dropped an unfathomable game at Vanderbilt. The Crimson Tide fell 40-35, were […]
The changes across the college football landscape have opened the door for mistakes to be made, but the Alabama Crimson Tide just made an error that could shut their College Football Playoff window completely. One week after an emotional win against Georgia, Alabama dropped an unfathomable game at Vanderbilt.
The Crimson Tide fell 40-35, were outgained in yards, allowed nine more first downs, and lost the time of possession battle 42 minutes to 18. Despite Alabama coughing up two turnovers, Vandy narrowly survived, but the loss is a massive stain on the program's history.
Now, Alabama's College Football Playoff odds will crater.
The SEC changed formats with the addition of new teams this offseason, losing the divisional divide in favor of a 16-team list. The two top teams will play each other for the conference championship, and the rest will simply pray they can land one of the seven at-large bids.
But that's presumably behind the loser of the SEC title game, so that leaves only six other openings before factoring in the Big Ten title game loser and best at-large team. In a world where the Ohio State Buckeyes or Oregon Ducks could be that third Big Ten team, Alabama's chances are already looking slimmer.
As of Saturday evening, with some games to finish, the SEC standings are topped by Texas A&M as the lone 3-0 team in conference play. Tennessee, LSU, and Texas are undefeated. Georgia is 2-1 but behind Alabama in a tiebreaker. Alabama is 1-1.
There's plenty of time to make up some ground. Upcoming head-to-head matchups at Tennessee and LSU become must-win games, though. Facing South Carolina, Missouri, and Oklahoma won't be easy, either. Alabama might be able to lose one of those and still make the conference title game.
Jalen Milroe's Heisman Trophy odds plummet for the same reason that he became the front-runner
So much for Week 6 being a week slate of college football action. Within a span of a few hours, No. 1-ranked Alabama fell to Vanderbilt, 40-35. While the Crimson Tide will be licking their wounds for quite some time, no singular player will be affected more than Alabama QB Jalen Milroe. Milroe had surged […]
Now, two more losses certainly is a death knell. This seemed unimaginable just one week ago after they throttled Georgia in the first half and then needed a miracle to hang on. Georgia and Vandy exposed the team's over-reliance on Jalen Milroe.
Can Kalen DeBoer quickly right the ship as the schedule takes a huge leap in quality competition? All eyes will be on the program to see if they can steady the ship or if 2024 will end up much worse than anticipated.
