Kalen DeBoer shares reaction to No. 11 ranking, if he plans to watch SMU-Clemson
Alabama was the last at-large team in the College Football Playoff when the penultimate rankings were revealed earlier this week. The Crimson Tide (9-3, 5-3 SEC) has a strong chance at making the 12-team field, regardless, of the outcome of Saturday’s title games.
Head coach Kalen DeBoer shared his reaction to his Alabama team being ranked 11th.
“We all get the challenges that the committee certainly has and trying to sort through everything,” DeBoer said on the Paul Finebaum Show. “I just think there’s an understanding, though … of what the league really, week in and week out, what it takes.
“It’s not just about that one game here, the one game there. It’s that game and then backing it with a second that’s a physical contest that goes four quarters, and then doing it again. There’s so many teams that have won games against other top-25 teams, not just us and what our resume shows.
“But I think there’s just an understanding of what the league and then us being right at the top of the league and having many big wins ourselves against both teams in our league and then other wins against other bowl-eligible teams, as well.”
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, Alabama currency has an 86.8 percent chance of reaching the playoff, which is the ninth-best odds and ahead of No. 8 SMU (67.9 percent).
The ACC Championship Game matchup between SMU and Clemson will be one the Tide will watch closely on Saturday, December 7. Should the Mustangs win, that would guarantee Alabama a spot in the playoff ahead of a 4-loss Clemson team. A Tigers win, however, would open the door for a debate between the Tide and SMU for the final spot in the field.
CFP selection committee chair Warde Manuel already said there is the potential for Alabama to make the playoff over a 2-loss SMU team, but Sunday’s final rankings will reveal the truth.
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With the Tide not playing in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday, DeBoer and the Tide’s coaching staff have a free weekend. Will they spend it watching the SMU-Clemson battle?
“This time of the year, there’s work happening,” DeBoer said. “But you’re going to try to make sure your schedule is available to where you’ve got eyes on the TV one way or another and can see what’s going on. Just as a fan of football now, that’s really what Saturday is. You get to just watch the game, learn. I’m always going to be doing that.
“But I’ll be, one way or another, trying to find a way to get around a TV in the midst of doing everything else we’re doing from a football standpoint in the program.”
Alabama will be ready for whatever happens when the final rankings are revealed on Sunday.
“We’ve got plans for all of it, depending on what day you’d be playing and what practices look like – lifting, meetings and all that,” DeBoer said. “Just always planning ahead and having a plan A, plan B, plan C for everything.”
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