Alabama Must Work to Sustain Success for College Football Playoff

Nick Saban and the Alabama football team might want to skip this story.

What’s about to follow is way too much rat poison for them to ingest. And not the ‘yummy’ kind he enjoyed last week before the SEC title game.

There has been a big campaign push for Alabama linebacker Will Anderson to win the Heisman Trophy.

Anderson’s put up the numbers to back up the adulation.

The sophomore is having none of it.

There is one clear choice when it comes to college football’s biggest individual award.

“He should win the Heisman,” an animated Anderson said of teammate Bryce Young, who carved up the nation’s top-ranked defense in the SEC title game. “If you watched the game - if you watched the whole season – nobody comes close to him. He should win it. Everybody can see that.”

Alabama No. 1 seed for CFP

College football bowl schedule

Anderson saw what the whole country saw Saturday – one of the top individual efforts of the 2021 season in a 41-24 thrashing of the Bulldogs in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Yes, Young’s offensive line played its best game against No. 1 Georgia in Atlanta, but he did something no other quarterback did against the previously unbeaten Bulldogs all season.

Before the matchup with No. 1 Georgia and No. 4 Alabama, the most passing yards allowed by the Bulldogs was 332 by Tennessee. The most touchdowns in a game were by Kentucky and the Vols (two each).

Young put up an SEC title game record 421 yards with three touchdowns and ran for another one. Georgia’s defense had allowed just seven touchdowns all season. Young accounted for more than half that Saturday.

“If he doesn’t deserve (the Heisman) after this game, then I’m not sure,” Alabama defensive back DeMarcco Hellams said following the win. “We see that every day in practice. It wasn’t a surprise to us.”

Young is fourth in the nation with 4,322 yards and second with 43 passing touchdowns, which is also tied for most in a single season at Alabama.

OK, enough of the ‘fatal’ rat poison. Now it’s time to discuss the good kind that Saban loves so much.

The Crimson Tide played its most complete game of the season against Georgia. Now, having earned the top seed in the college playoff, Alabama has to prepare for Cincinnati, the first non-Power 5 team to make the four-team playoff.

The question for Alabama is can it replicate the same energy and intensity it showed with Georgia against a Bearcat team that hasn’t received much respect – except from Saban, of course.

“We certainly believe Cincinnati belongs in the playoff,” Saban said. “They have been consistent in the way they have played all year long.”

But the coach who has guided the Crimson Tide to six national championships has to get his squad ready for a new challenge. Cincinnati is in the spot Alabama was last week, a team no one believes can win its next game.

“Just because you did it once doesn’t mean it’s going to stay with you,” Saban said on ESPN after the playoff selection show. “Our team was a pretty good football team (Saturday). The challenge is can you be a good football team all the time.”

Alabama has a few weeks to get ready for the semifinal. It will need that time for some players to rest and recoup. Running back Brian Robinson has been dinged up since the Auburn game with a leg muscle pull; defensive back Jalyn Armour-Davis missed the Georgia game with a leg injury; center Darian Dalcourt, who also missed the SEC title game, has been bothered by an ankle injury.