Nick Saban, Alabama players talk playoff chances following Iron Bowl win
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama has done what it can. Now it’s hoping chaos takes care of the rest.
Entering Saturday, the Crimson Tide’s playoff chances seemed to be on life support. Despite sitting at No. 7 in the College Football Playoff rankings, Alabama’s two losses appeared too large of an obstacle for the committee to overlook, especially without the ability to play for a conference title.
However, following a few surprises, Alabama’s path of becoming the first-ever two-loss playoff team seems a lot more plausible.
Alabama received a bit of help before taking the field on Saturday as No. 2 Ohio State was blown out at home by No. 3 Michigan while No. 8 Clemson suffered a home upset against South Carolina. Later in the night, No. 5 LSU added to the mayhem, losing to Texas A&M on the road.
The Crimson Tide is still going to need a bit more help moving forward, but following Saturday’s 49-27 victory over Auburn, Nick Saban found himself in the unexpected position of discussing his team’s playoff chances.
“Unbeknown to me, I didn’t know who won, who lost or anything else,” the head coach said following the game. “It’s a great opportunity for our team to be considered. I think we lost two games on the road to two top-10 teams by four points. We are a good football team, and hopefully, people will recognize that.”
Alabama (10-2, 6-2 in the SEC) will have to wait and see how the rest of the playoff picture shakes out as the next College Football Playoff rankings will be released on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN. No. 1 Georgia, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 TCU are all set to maintain their playoff positions as they remained undefeated heading into their respective conference championship games. From there, things will get interesting.
Outside of the unbeatens, Alabama’s biggest playoff competition consists of Ohio State, and No. 6 Southern California, which beat No. 15 Notre Dame on Saturday night. The Trojans will remain ahead of the Crimson Tide in next week's rankings, but it will be interesting to see if Alabama moves ahead of Ohio State.
The Buckeyes have one fewer loss, but it came at home by three touchdowns. Both of Alabama’s losses occurred on the road to top-10 teams on the final play of the game. Following Saturday’s Iron Bowl win, Crimson Tide edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. wasn’t shy to state his team should still be in contention.
“Yeah most definitely,” Anderson said when asked if Alabama was good enough to make the playoff. “We had a quarterback who has been through some tough shoulder injuries or whatever like that. We fought hard in every game that we played in. We did a really good job. The effort was there. We lost to both of those teams to a combined four points, so I think we have a really good team and these guys worked very hard.”
Starting right guard Emil Ekiyor Jr. even went as far as to say players were “very optimistic” moving forward.
“We’re all looking forward to what happens in the next coming weeks,” he said. “We’re working hard, finishing the season strong. No one’s really been like not focused or anything. We’ve all been working hard.
“Hopefully something good happens for us. If the opportunity presents itself, we’ll be ready.”
Georgia and LSU are set to face off in next week's SEC Championship Game while Michigan takes on Purdue the Big Ten Championship Game, TCU plays Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game and USC faces Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Best believe Alabama players will be tuned into their televisions rooting for chaos.
“Everybody’s got their eyes on certain games,” Ekiyor said with a smile.
Added linebacker Deontae Lawson: "We definitely have hope, be we’re going to just keep taking it one game at a time. I believe in this team. I believe in the players on this team, and I feel like we got a chance.”