Why Tyler Booker believes Alabama deserves to make the College Football Playoff

Alabama’s regular season ended with a 28-14 win over Auburn, and now the Crimson Tide will wait to learn its postseason fate – if it will play in the 12-team playoff or a bowl game.

Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings will tell if Alabama still has a shot at a national title, as the Tide needs to be ranked ahead of Miami and South Carolina. Should that be the case, UA will be rooting for SMU to defeat Clemson in the ACC Championship Game. If that happens, there’s a strong chance that Alabama will earn an at-large bit to compete.

On Monday, Crimson Tide offensive lineman Tyler Booker made a case for his team.

“I feel like the playoff is designed to have the 12 best teams in the country in it,” said Booker in his weekly appearance on The Next Round. “If you turn on the film and think that Alabama is not one of the 12 best teams in the country, I don’t know what you would define as the 12 best teams in the country because the schedule that we play, the talent that we have on our team, I definitely think we’re one of the 12 best teams in the country.

“Our record might not be the prettiest, but when Alabama comes to play, we are definitely one of the 12 best teams in the country.”

Alabama (9-3, 5-3 SEC) has the 13th-best odds to make the 12-team playoff field, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. That’s behind both of the teams playing for the Big 12 title and ahead of Miami and South Carolina. The Tide has the nation’s 10th-best strength of record, per ESPN, and the 17th-best strength of schedule after the regular season.

Alabama had a clear path to the SEC Championship Game and playoff ahead of its Week 13 game at Oklahoma but lost to the Sooners, 24-3. All seemed lost before Miami lost to Syracuse and Clemson lost to South Carolina. The Tide had to win the Iron Bowl to remain in the hunt, and Alabama defeated its in-state rival to win its ninth game of the year.

UA got the win it needed, topping the Tigers for a fifth year in a row, in an emotional game.

“To be able to play in the Iron Bowl, especially with it being at Bryant-Denny, especially with it being some of our seniors’ last game at Bryant-Denny Stadium, we did it for them,” Booker said. “A lot played into it, not so much the playoff and everything that surrounds that. We were just focused on teaching (Demarcus) Riddick who Alabama is, that’s what we were focused on.”

Riddick is a freshman linebacker at Auburn who had a lot of opinions before the Iron Bowl was played, whether it be about Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams or quarterback Jalen Milroe or his plan to never lose to the Tide. Word quickly got back to the Alabama locker room, but the Alabama players didn’t say much when asked for their reactions last week.

But Booker shared his thoughts on the trash talk two days after Alabama’s 14-point win.

“Honestly, we all just laughed at it because we knew that he was going to have to see us eventually. And he did,” Booker said. “I think Ryan showed how special he was and Jalen showed how fast he was. So I think he’s going to have to go through a little bit of media training this offseason.”

Not a member, Alabama fans? Join BOL today!

Have you subscribed to BamaOnLine.com yet? You can sign up for ONE MONTH of premium access to our Alabama coverage for just $11.99! Be able to read all of BOL’s premium articles and nuggets covering Alabama sports and recruiting and also join thousands of other Crimson Tide fans around the globe on the BOL Round Table message board! CLICK HERE!