In Week 1 the Alabama Crimson Tide looked like legit national championship contenders but took a step back this past weekend against the USF Bulls. Granted the Tide won by a score of 42-16, however, it’s deceiving as Alabama scored touchdowns on their final four possessions.
Andy Staples of On3 Sports currently projects that the Crimson Tide will be an at-large in this year’s 12-team Playoff. He expects Alabama to claim the No. 8 seed where they would take on the No. 9 USC Trojans with a chance to take on the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes in the quarterfinals. Staples expects five other members of the SEC to qualify for the playoffs No. 1 Georgia, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 7 Ole Miss and No. 11 Missouri.
Kalen DeBoer was 1-0 against Lincoln Riley and the Trojans as head coach of the Washington Huskies and I think he would certainly welcome that home matchup in the first round. A potential match up with the Buckeyes in the second round would be very interesting given the transfers of S Caleb Downs, C Seth McLaughlin and QB Julian Sayin.
The wins against Western Kentucky and Southern Florida were good for getting back into game shape, but the next two contests will be a serious step up in competition. First, Alabama will be on the road taking on the Wisconsin Badgers before hosting the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs two weeks later off a bye.
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