Kalen DeBoer gives pitch for Alabama to make College Football Playoff
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 13 Alabama closed its regular season with a win, beating Auburn 28-14 to move to 9-3 on the season. The Crimson Tide missed the SEC championship game, meaning its resume for a potential berth to the College Football Playoff is complete.
Coming into Saturday, Alabama had fallen to the second team out of the projected field due to last week’s unexpected loss to Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide needed some chaos this weekend to have a chance of making it in, and got just enough to make things interesting.
No. 12 Clemson, the team ranked one spot ahead of Alabama, lost to No. 15 South Carolina in the morning slate. In the afternoon slate of games, No. 6 Miami lost to unranked Syracuse, knocking the Hurricanes out of the ACC championship picture and putting their playoff odds in question.
No one will truly know where Alabama stands in relation to a playoff berth until Tuesday night’s updated CFP rankings, but the door has remained cracked open for the Crimson Tide for the time being.
Following the win over Auburn, Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer was asked to give his pitch for his team’s inclusion, now that the Crimson Tide has no more games left to play.
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“Well, I think everyone’s aware of our schedule,” DeBoer said. “I don’t know the exact stats, but I think we beat four top 25 teams throughout the year. I don’t know how many, if anyone, has done that. So when you talk about the schedule and what it is week to week, it’s just a grind. Having to come back every week, that’s really the only conference that has to do that is ours. That’s what I’d say, and we’ve won five of our last six. So, playing some physical football, I think we’ve continued to excel in that area, with what the game’s all about. I think those are two pretty big deals. We beat some high quality teams, teams that are still out there and I believe playing some good ball themselves, then just winning [four] of the last six in the back half of the season.”
Alabama’s ranked wins came over Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, and now-unranked LSU, which ranks near the top of college football. The Crimson Tide has no remaining games to bolster its resume any further, meaning its fate is in the hands of the committee.
Tuesday night’s rankings will reveal whether Alabama has a chance to sneak into the playoff as one of the final teams in the field.
