Alabama Reclaims Image and Shot at College Playoffs With Win and Help
By: Larry Burton
I couldn’t ask but would like to know if the Alabama players if they knew that Baylor and Oklahoma had already lost and if that was incentive to play lights out as they did to to jump from number seven in the rankings to maybe number four. I would have loved to have heard the P.A. at Bryant Denny blare out “I get by with a little help from my friends”, because today, Alabama did in fact get a little help, if not a lot of help, from friends this week following their big 59-0 win.
With either Notre Dame or Florida State to also play and lose later that night, the folks in Tuscaloosa had to know that jumping to the coveted number four position would be within their grasp with a decisive and awe inspiring win, which is just what happened.
Texas A&M, which is not a slouch SEC team like Vanderbilt, was beaten by Alabama worse than any other SEC showdown in the past 35 years. No player on the field had ever seen a worse SEC beat down than than this in their entire lifetime. That really puts it in perspective. Had Saban not called off the dogs, Alabama could have easily beat them 80-0.
If that doesn’t create style points for the poll voters and more importantly for the championship committee, then nothing will.The offense rattled off a staggering 602 yards against the Aggie defense, 304 through the air and 298 on the ground. On defense, Alabama simply owned the Aggies allowing only 172 total yards. It was a complete team victory all the way around.
I watched closely as backup redshirt freshman center Bradley Bozeman started looking like a seasoned veteran making several key blocks on running plays. When starting right tackle Austin Shepherd went out, the Tide just kept on rising. It was hard to find a player in Crimson that didn’t have a great game.
But as great as Alabama looked the help they got from other teams helped even more.
The Big 12 may have just shot themselves in the foot with any playoff chance since both Baylor and Oklahoma bit the dust. Another loss with Michigan State will end the Big 10’s chance of fielding a team in those same playoffs. Today, two teams rated ahead of Alabama lost, Auburn may fall behind this now red hot Tide again after sitting idle this week. With the two schools from Mississippi still waiting to play, that will be another team rated ahead of Alabama that will fall.
A one loss Alabama team would now look impossible to deny a playoff spot to, even they don’t wind up in the conference championship. The message to the men in Crimson is simple, just don’t lose again.
Larry has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports and now primarily writes here for Touchdown Alabama. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments at https://twitter.com/LBSportswriter
