Since dropping their second game of the season to the Tennessee Volunteers in Week 8, the Alabama Crimson Tide have looked like a brand new team. The Tide have outscored Missouri, LSU and Mercer in their last three games by a combined score of 128-20.
At 8-2 on the year, the Crimson Tide are in a great spot to make the first-ever 12-team Playoff but still have tough tests at Oklahoma and against Auburn. If Alabama can win those final two games and Missouri can beat either Mississippi State or Arkansas, the Tide will be headed to Atlanta to compete for the SEC Championship.
The committee has yet to comment on how they would handle a three-loss team that has lost the conference title, but it’s hard to imagine anyone being punished for a loss to the SEC Champion on the final weekend of the year. Fortunately, Andy Staples of On3 doesn’t foresee that being an issue for Alabama as he projects that they will make the Playoff as the No. 2 seed, where they would get a first-round bye.
Staples projects that Alabama would get the winner of No. 7 Ole Miss and No. 10 Tennessee in the quarterfinals with No. 6 Georgia being the fourth SEC team to qualify. Ole Miss is playing as well as anyone in the country right now, but I think DeBoer’s side would love another crack at the Volunteers.
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