The 12-team playoff is set and Alabama is out. For the Crimson Tide, it’s all over but the shout’n. The cold winter is here, but the fans are on fire. We’ll leave the post-practice ice cream to coach Kalen DeBoer. The mailbag is serving up flaming-hot takes.
Did being a member of the SEC go from living the dream to being a major liability in less than 24 hours? Why would any current SEC team want to remain in the SEC when the likes of Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Mizzou (not to mention LSU, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Auburn) are sitting at home while Indiana, Boise State, Arizona State, Clemson (who just lost to the No.5 SEC team) and mighty SMU (which just lost to Clemson and has not a single win against a ranked opponent) go to the playoffs?
If South Carolina had been in the ACC, they would have made the playoffs this year. If Alabama had been in the Big 12, they would have been in as well. The same would have been true for Mississippi if they had been in the Mountain West. Why go through the meat grinder that is the SEC every week when you can cruise to an automatic bid to the CFP in any of the other cupcake conferences?
The bottom line (and it is an ugly truth to be sure) is that the other conferences outside of the SEC and Big Ten are no longer viable as they exist today. The Pac-12 teams figured this out pretty quickly and bolted for the Big Ten where Oregon is currently the No.1 team in the country. If the SEC wants to maintain its position as the league’s premiere conference as well as its ability to command six to eights spots in the CFP annually, then it needs to either greatly expand by absorbing the best teams in the ACC and Big 12. That should effectively slam the door in the face of the Big Ten to most of the best players in the Southeast, and would allow the SEC to create real playoff-caliber teams or break off from the NCAA all together and form its own league.
The alternative is to sit by and idly watch the SEC’s current membership start to wonder what could have been in one of the cupcake conferences, which I don’t believe is what Disney paid billions of dollars for.
Rick in Hopewell Junction, N.Y., writes …
Since the committee is infatuated with win-loss records, if Alabama wants to be in the playoffs going forward, the path is simple. Make a deal with the ACC that they will join their conference on the condition that they get to play the same conference schedule that SMU played this year. Then schedule Nevada, Houston Christian and BYU as non-conference games. They should certainly be able to manage getting through with no more than one loss and be in the ACC championship game. Even if they lose it, they’ll make the playoffs.
Robert in Stapleton, Ala., writes …
DeBoer is simply not built to coach in the SEC. Will he adjust? Well, take a look at the number of West Coast recruits in this year’s class. I think not. Oh, and I loved Kirby’s poke at Sankey on live TV. Priceless!!
Lou in Birmingham writes …
The hallmark of the Saban Era was that Alabama didn’t beat itself, and beat the teams it was supposed to beat. That certainly didn’t happen this year.
I’m a grad and scholarship donor, Tide Pride, etc, etc. I think SMU deserved to get in over us. Yeah, we beat higher ranked teams, but that résumé didn’t help when we played Vandy and Oklahoma. We didnt take care of business. We could have been Tennessee, safely in and chilling out while others beat their heads in for the SEC championship.
As for toughness, you may be right. I would suggest that DeBoer take Air Supply and Captain & Tennille off the practice playlist and replace them with AC/DC. Maybe that will help.
Deron in Bloomington, Ind., writes …
I have never seen a team play like nothing is on the line while Vandy and Oklahoma played like everything was on the line. I blame DeBoer. I’ve been a fan since Walter Lewis and Joey Jones — just disappointed at this season. I live in Bloomington, Indiana. If [Curt] Cignetti had this team, they would be undefeated easily.
ANSWER: No one had “Alabama should join the ACC” on their bingo cards to begin this unprecedented season of college football, but here we are, eating ice cream in the rain.
I’m going to assume that all the blasphemy about Alabama skipping out on the SEC is just rhetorical overreaction to being left out of the playoffs. Maybe FSU and Alabama can swap schedules next season?
If Greg Byrne files a lawsuit against commissioner Greg Sankey and the SEC, then we’ll know things are getting serious.
Byrne said this week that Alabama is going to think twice about scheduling non-conference games against Power 4 opponents, but I wouldn’t shake my saber too wildly in the direction of the College Football Playoff corruption committee. If the CFP can cave to public pressure when it comes to SMU, there’s no telling how those guys will react to threats from ADs.
Should Alabama leave the SEC to Texas just because Sankey and his staff gifted the Longhorns a golden road to the playoffs? Look at this way. All things being unequal, Texas at least scored a victory at Vanderbilt.
Alabama defeated the SEC champion, but couldn’t bother with inferior competition. Seems like the coaching staff and players are to blame and not the conference affiliation. If Alabama joined the Big 12, how do we know for certain that a team coached by DeBoer wouldn’t just give up the ghost in that conference, too?
SMU went 5-0 in true road games this season. Alabama went 2-3. The difference for Alabama this season was turnovers in those games.
Alabama won the turnover battle against Wisconsin and LSU. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe committed seven turnovers in road losses to Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma. There’s your season. It started with ice cream after practice for the Crimson Tide, but it’s ending with a Dec.31 bowl game in Tampa.
