Alabama draws ever closer to the matchup with Oklahoma in Coach Kalen DeBoer’s first playoff appearance with the Crimson Tide. Ahead of that, us here at RBR wanted to give you our collection of opinions
on Alabama’s season and the playoffs as a whole.
1) How much hope are you holding out that Alabama can/will exorcise their Sooner woes in Norman next week? Who do you predict wins?
Josh: Considering the way the game in Tuscaloosa went down, I have confidence that Alabama can and likely will win the game if they can protect the football. That, of course, will be the million dollar question, but with several key players set to return, I think the Tide can get it done.
CB969: I am not feeling very Gumpy. The Tide defense has been solid all season, but the Ty Simpson led offense has been going down the drain since the South Carolina game. Plus, special teams have been a mess. Now if the Simpson back issue rumors are true and Bama goes with Mack/Keelon at QB, that can change the mojo of a team. If Ty plays the whole game, I think it will be competitive but sad to say, I think Okie wins. [PROVE ME WRONG, TIDE!] If it is one or both of the other guys, I’d take the Crimson Tide.
Brent: I have a good bit of hope. Not really because I think Alabama is going to turn things around, but because I have even less respect for the Oklahoma offense. It’s been even worse than the Tide’s lately. I suspect Alabama wins, but it’ll be gross.
2) I know we’re all pretty down on the Tide overall right now… But if they pull off the win over Oklahoma, will your attitude flip into thinking they belong with the Indianas, Georgias, and Ohio States of the playoffs?
Josh: We would get to find out since they’d see Indiana in the second round. If midseason Alabama can show back up, they can compete with anyone.
CB969: If they beat Okie – and they absolutely can – it would have to be a dominating error-free effort to get me to believe they are Top 4 material.
Brent: Not at all. I think the SEC Championship showed us all we needed to see. Alabama has a championship contender quality defense, but the offense is broken and special teams has been a detriment.
3) For your money, who wins it all?
Josh: Call it recency bias, but Georgia looked awfully good in the SEC Championship Game. Right now I’d probably lean toward Kirby getting another one.
CB969: Georgia. [Sad face emoticon]
Brent: Yeah it’s gotta be Georgia for me too. The Dogs have lost to only two non-Alabama teams in half a decade, and one of those was last year when their QB was hurt. I have a lot of respect for what Indiana has done and really like that team, but I can’t in good faith pick against UGA.
4) In years past, there’s usually a player or two that really take a step during December practices and get some playing time in the final game(s) that we hadn’t seen from them all year. With only 1 week off, that may not happen this year. But if it does, who is a player you have your eye on?
Josh: I don’t really see that kind of breakout on this roster, but if Ty Simpson plays the first half against Oklahoma like he played against Auburn and Georgia, then either Austin Mack or Keelon Russell could be that guy.
CB969: Now that they burned his redshirt, running back AK Dear.
Brent: I want it to be AK Dear. Alabama has to find some semblance of a run game to have a shot. Another guy I’ll be watching is Derek Meadows. The WR was starting to get some legitimate playing time before Missouri tried to decapitate him on the field (and it seemed like Grubb was using him for perimeter blocking). Do we start to see him back into the rotation with Alabama going for a more screen-heavy game plan?
5) In a purely pass/fail grade of your own metrics, how do you rate Kalen DeBoer’s second season (with the obvious caveat that the playoffs will change all kinds of perceptions in just a game or two).
Josh: Given the landscape in college football, I’d give it a pass. Losing to FSU in the opener is forgivable in my view, as openers are going to be strange with so much roster turnover year to year. And, the Oklahoma game had some fluky elements to it. Now, being uncompetitive in Atlanta isn’t something that sits well. Hopefully getting healthier will get them back on track.
CB969: It was a tougher schedule than last season, but the improvement seemed minimal in many areas. B-
Brent: Definitely a pass. Alabama improved from a year ago, beat Auburn/LSU/Tennessee, made the SEC Championship, and made the playoffs. The offensive slide at the end of the season is concerning… But the team is, overall, moving in the right direction. In particular, the defense is soooo much more physical and disciplined than it’s been – probably since 2017.
6) You have one shot to fix this whole playoff mess that college football has become. How do you organize it?
Josh: Scrap the playoff altogether, put the conference expansion genie back in the bottle, and return to bowl tie-ins where winning your conference means everything.
CB969: Disband the Committee, drop auto-bids, and go with the top 12 based on a conglomerate of computer rankings.If I was the omnipotent ruler of College Football, I’d shrink the field down to 8 teams.
Brent: The biggest thing to me is that we have to get less insular between conferences. The arguing in circles about who has played tougher schedules has gotten nauseating. We break up conferences and then force multiple cross-play games (like 3+ of them) every year. Schools don’t get to pick…. It all gets assigned. And if we have to keep playoffs, we shrink to 6 or 8.
