Fox Sports analyst and broadcaster Joel Klatt had some tough words for the Alabama Crimson Tide and one other SEC football team on the Monday edition of his podcast, “The Joel Klatt Show.”
Klatt said that Alabama, as well as the Ole Miss Rebels, had lost the benefit of the doubt over the weekend after both lost games against teams they were heavily favored to beat.
Ole Miss (8-3) fell 24-17 in Gainesville to the Florida Gators (5-6), who still aren’t guaranteed of reaching a bowl game. Alabama (8-3), of course, suffered a 24-3 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners in one of the ugliest performances by a Crimson Tide team in years.
With regard to Alabama, Klatt said:
“You lose the benefit of the doubt when you lose to an Oklahoma team that was 1-5 in their last six games against FBS opponents. You just do. You lose the benefit of the doubt when one of your losses is against Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt lost to Georgia State.”
Entering Week 14, Klatt said that he sees only three SEC teams reaching the 12-team College Football Playoff: the Texas Longhorns, Georgia Bulldogs and Tennessee Volunteers.
“Alabama and Ole Miss, there’s not really a path for those teams (to the playoff),” Klatt said. “There would have to be just mass, absolute pandemonium for that to happen. Now, we just saw that last Saturday, so I’m not saying there’s a zero percent chance. But those two teams right now are clearly out.”
Alabama fell to No. 13 in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll. The Tide were ranked No. 7 in last week’s College Football Playoff rankings. The updated rankings will be unveiled Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Alabama hosts the Auburn Tigers in the 89th edition of the Iron Bowl this Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ABC.
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