Nick Saban sends clear message on Alabama's case for College Football Playoff spot

The perfect storm came together for the worst possible scenario for the College Football Playoff committee during conference championship week.

Through all of the chaos, Alabama emerged victorious over the unbeatable Georgia Bulldogs. To Nick Saban, that should be more than enough to get his Crimson Tide into the final mix.

“We won the SEC,” Saban said. “We beat the No. 1 team in the country — which everybody thought on the committee was the No. 1 team in the country. They won 29 straight games. If we needed to do something to pass the eye test, I guess that probably contributed to it significantly. If you really want the four best teams to compete, the four most deserving teams that have progressed throughout the season.

“We’re not the same team we were when we played Texas. We’re not the same team when we played South Florida. I don’t think we should be considered as that team right now. I think people should look at the whole body of work in terms of what the team was able to accomplish and what they were able to do. I think this team is one of the four best teams, one of the teams that’s deserving to be in the Playoff.”

Defeating the two-time defending national champions in the biggest game of the season to this point should be all the eye candy Alabama needs to crack the top four. Of course, the loss to Texas throws a wrench into those plans. Florida State going undefeated and winning the ACC didn’t help make the decision any easier.

But what happens if the committee doesn’t share the same perspective as Saban?

“I disagreed with them before. I disagreed last year. So I’ll respect ’em. I know they have a tough job. I know there’s a lot of good teams,” Saban said. “But I’m just speaking up for our guys on our team who have busted their butt all year long to accomplish what they’ve accomplished. I think that needs to be recognized.”

Never before has there been so many teams that have a legitimate case to make the playoff in the same season. Given the fact that this is the final year of the original four-team format, this problem won’t present itself moving forward as the best teams will always get in.

That’s next year, though. For now, the committee has to choose between four teams and someone is going to be left out. We’ll find out at Noon ET when the College Football Playoff field is officially announced.