Desmond Howard: Alabama 'peaking at the right time' amid College Football Playoff push

Desmond Howard doesn’t believe the College Football Playoff dream has died for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Many believed when Nick Saban and company fell to the Texas Longhorns, it could’ve ended Alabama’s Playoff dream for 2023. However, Howard joined Get Up on Friday to explain why the Crimson Tide are still in the thick of things.

“100%,” Howard responded, asked if Alabama can make the College Football Playoff. “The big mistake people made was earlier in the year, when Alabama was trying to figure out their quarterback situation, and the Texas Longhorns caught them at the right time in Tuscaloosa and beat them. When that happened, people just dismissed Alabama. It’s going to be a down year. They’re not going to make the College Football Playoff. But they steadily got better. They steadily got improvement at the quarterback position. Jalen Milroe, right now, he’s playing as well as any quarterback in college football.

“Again, this is another program that’s peaking at the right time. There’s some programs that are really sharp in September, they look good in October, but then they start to falter in November. No, these other programs — Georgia, Alabama. They’re starting to peak in November.”

As Howard mentioned, Alabama has been one of the hottest teams in the nation, and quarterback Jalen Milroe has a ton to do with it. Still, they’ll need a victory over the Bulldogs to convince the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, one analyst not listening to any Alabama to the College Football Playoff noise is FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt. He doesn’t want to hear any arguments for Alabama over Texas should the two be neck and neck for a spot this year.

“You can hear the drumbeat,” Klatt said on his podcast. “You hear it every Saturday. You see it on social media. You heard it last night as the rankings (were) released. You hear this drumbeat for a 12-1 Alabama that it’s like well, it’s different and they’re so much better now. And hey, if they beat No. 1 Georgia and they end that win streak, and so now you’re sitting there, Florida State remains undefeated, the Big Ten champ remains undefeated, Oregongoes 12-1 or Washington goes undefeated and Bama beats Georgia. 

“Guess what? Guess what? There are going to be a lot of voices, not mine, but a lot of voices spewing the propaganda that Bama deserves to be in the playoff over Texas, which is patently absurd.”

Alas, time will tell if Alabama makes their case, but the path is ahead of them, even if Desmond Howard and Joel Klatt are on different sides of the fence.