Nick Saban calls for Alabama to take care of business with College Football Playoff case on the line

When the calendar turns to November, it’s impossible to not think about the College Football Playoff. Especially in the SEC, where the conference’s top-level teams are continually competing for national championships. Alabama is a usual suspect, with Nick Saban having three titles in the CFP era.

Thinking about the playoff can become a whole lot easier when playing from behind. Sure, playing with a regular season loss is something Alabama has done in the past. But they are actually facing an uphill climb at the moment, with a few teams ranked ahead of them.

Naturally, Alabama could have the feeling of needing to prove they are worthy. Saban’s goal is the opposite, just asking his team to take care of business. If they can win out, all of the pressure will then shift to the committee in his eyes.

“What happened last Saturday has no effect on what’s going to happen this Saturday,” Saban said. “Everybody has got to stay focused on what you want to accomplish and what you want to do. I asked the players tonight after practice.

“I said ‘How do you feel about this season? How do you feel about the opportunity that you created for yourself? And how do you feel about winning out and trying to put all these people who want to speculate about who’s going to get in the playoffs — put them on the hot seat in terms of making the determination about do we belong or don’t we belong.’ But we have to take care of our business first.”

Taking care of business will begin on Saturday afternoon, with Alabama traveling to Lexington for a matchup against Kentucky. As Saban told Ms. Terry, taking them down is the first priority before moving on to Chatanooga and eventually, Auburn.

An SEC Championship against Georgia would then likely wait, where Alabama has the opportunity to get their best win of the season. It would maybe prove to the College Football Playoff committee that they belong, even if not everybody believes the Crimson Tide does not control their own destiny at the moment.

“Alabama, holding serve, getting one of their best wins of the season — they don’t move,” ESPN’s Greg McElroy said on Tuesday. “They were eight last week, they are eight this week. It basically indicates, at the moment, they don’t control their own destiny. Which, I think is an unsettling feeling for a lot of Alabama fans.”

If the time comes, Saban will be there to politic for his team. We saw so after last season, with the head coach making multiple appearances, fighting for his team to get a spot in the playoff.

That’s not right now, though. Alabama has three games to play and maybe one more. Take care of business there and then discussion about the CFP will begin in Tuscaloosa.