Alabama Jeopardizes Playoff Spot with Ugly Loss to Georgia

ATLANTA–– After Alabama's win over Auburn, I wrote from the Jordan-Hare press box that this Crimson Tide team deserved a spot in the College Football Playoff after a 10-2 regular season. Saturday's deflating 28-7 loss to No. 3 Georgia in the SEC title game, that may no longer be true.

With BYU's loss earlier in the day in the Big 12 championship, basically all Alabama needed to do to secure a spot in the CFP was not get blown out. Now, the Crimson Tide is entering a very fraught 16 hours as its fate is once again left in the hands of the CFP committee for the second straight season under Kalen DeBoer.

"If this game applies to and takes away from our résumé, I don't think that's right," DeBoer said after the game. "I really don't. I think the precedence has been set. I don't know how you can go into a conference Playoff game when you're the No. 1 seed, did all these things throughout the year, and playing in this game against one of the top teams in the country, as well, how that can hurt you and keep you out of the Playoff.

No. 9 Alabama looked lifeless for the majority of the championship game. An ugly first half saw the Crimson Tide trailing 14-0 at the break, but it could have been much worse. The defense continually stepped up despite getting put in tough spots.

Ty Simpson and the offense would get the ball to start the second half with the chance to cut it to a one-score game. Instead, Alabama went three-and-out three straight times coming out of the half and didn't get a first down in the third quarter until the final play of the period.

"We have a standard as an offense in general," Simpson said. "Actually, we know we're the best offense in the country. Then when we don't show it, it's very frustrating, especially times when we're just a couple things away. Like I said, credit to Georgia's defense, right? They had a good plan. That's pretty much simple as that."

Simpson had one of his worst performances of the season. He completed just 49 percent of his passes and his interception set up Georgia's second touchdown of the game.

The Bulldogs able to capitalize on good field position on all four of its touchdown drives while Alabama never started a drive ahead of its own 25.

Alabama finally got on the board with a 23-yard touchdown to Germie Bernard with 12:33 to go in the fourth quarter to cut it to 21-7. The defense turned around and got a stop, and there was some life injected back into the Alabama sideline.

But a muffed punt by Cole Adams forced Alabama to start its next possession at its own 4-yard line, Four plays later, the Tide turned it over on downs, which effectively killed any slim chances of a comeback.

Alabama's defense played pretty well given the circumstances and how long it was on the field for, but it was just the second time all season that the Tide did not force a turnover. Overall, it was just a disastrous day for the Tide from start to finish.

"I'm proud of our guys," DeBoer said. "I'll never question the heart, the fight, what these guys bring. You can see at the end of the game these guys still giving everything they got, both sides of the ball, all phases.

"Fell short today, but proud of the season, getting to an SEC Championship, getting to this spot. A lot to build off of."

DeBoer was possibly the most fired up he's ever been in a press conference since arriving at Alabama in Saturday's postgame. He is adamant that his team is still a playoff team, and that the health outlook of this team will look completely different two weeks from now. And that may be so.

Alabama has proven already this season that it can bounce back from a bad performance. The team also had an abysmal game in the season opener against Florida State and then reeled off eight straight wins (four against ranked opponents) before losing to Oklahoma at home. That Sooners team is definitely in the CFP field.

The Crimson Tide was also without multiple key players because of injuries like running back Jam Miller, tight end Josh Cuevas and defensive back Zabien Brown. DeBoer also mentioned that wide receiver Germie Bernard, running back Daniel Hill and center Parker Brailsford are all dealing with injuries. That certainly had a big impact on the Crimson Tide against Georgia.

Across Nick Saban's 17-year tenure at Alabama, the Tide only lost one game by more than two scores (44-16 loss to Clemson in national title game.) Alabama has 21-point losses in back-to-back seasons under DeBoer, both coming late in the season.

The facts that were true about this Alabama team a week ago are still true. Alabama has a good resumé, which includes a road win at Georgia. It finished first place in the SEC, the best conference in college football. But Saturday's performance leaves a horrible final impression for the committee to evaluate. Alabama did not look like a team capable of winning a CFP game against Georgia.

Should a team be punished for losing a conference championship game when teams like Texas A&M and Ole Miss are sitting at home, definitely in the CFP, with the same regular season conference record as Alabama and Georgia? Probably not. However, life and college football, aren't always fair.

Alabama (10-3) will now be compared to Notre Dame (10-2) and Miami (10-2) for the final at-large spot in the field.

For the second year in a row, Alabama controlled its own path to the CFP heading into the month of November, and once again under DeBoer, the Crimson Tide could not win the necessary games to seal its own spot. Alabama fell one spot short last year, left on the outside looking in. Will it be the same this year? Alabama will find out with the rest of us on Sunday at 11 a.m. CT when the committee reveals the final CFP bracket.

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