After racing out to a 4-0 start with a win over No. 1 Georgia, the Alabama Crimson Tide looked almost certain to be headed back to the College Football Playoffs. The Tide have dropped two of their last three games and their Playoff hopes are hanging on by a thread.
The good news for the Crimson Tide is that they will still have a couple of chances to pick up marquee wins, with LSU, Missouri, and Oklahoma all still on the schedule. I still believe that DeBoer is the man for the job and that Alabama has all of the right pieces to make a post-season push, but there is no question that some things need to get cleaned up.
This week, Alabama dropped five spots in USA TODAY Sports re-rank of all 134 FBS programs from No. 11 to 16 saying,
“Tennessee moves up three to No. 10 after beating Alabama 24-17. That’s two losses this month for the Crimson Tide sandwiching a narrow win against South Carolina. That drops the Tide five spots to No. 16 and into fifth among SEC teams, trailing the Bulldogs, Longhorns, No. 9 LSU, the Volunteers and No. 15 Texas A&M. Alabama next takes on No. 23 Missouri.”
With a second bye week on the horizon, it’s important that Alabama takes care of Missouri and can refocus on LSU with their Playoff hopes still intact. The Tigers are quite dinged up into this weekend’s game as RB Nate Noel is out with a foot injury and QB Brady Cook is doubtful with an ankle injury.
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