tbone1430 1,346 Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 Here's the path to an Iron Bowl national championship The path isn't clear, but it's there. The road to football heaven in the state of Alabama began on Saturday in Auburn and can end with another Auburn victory next week. Auburn can make the College Football Playoff with a win against Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship, but can Alabama also make the four-team playoff if Auburn wins the SEC? Did Auburn's 26-14 victory against Alabama set the table for a possible Iron Bowl national championship game in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium? It's possible, but prepare for the great debate to begin. And the kind of politics the College Football Playoff committee hasn't yet had to navigate. In Alabama, an Iron Bowl national championship would be a college-football fairytale come true. For the rest of the nation, two SEC teams from the same state in the College Football Playoff would be a worst-case scenario. At two losses, Auburn is the chaos agent of the College Football Playoff. A two-loss team has never made the College Football Playoff, but the Tigers have made a strong case as one of the top four teams in the country. In the past three weeks it has beaten two undefeated No.1 ranked teams. "The interesting thing is, not only did we beat two number one teams, but both happened to be our rivals," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "This time of year, very few teams are playing their best football, and we are doing that. We must continue doing that moving forward. Playing Georgia, we know they are going to have a chip on their shoulder." If Auburn defeats Georgia again, it would be difficult to leave out the Plainsmen. And that's where things get interesting for Alabama, and for the College Football Playoff committee. It could boil down to this: Is one-loss Alabama going to be better in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee than a one- or two-loss conference champion? And, perhaps more importantly, would the College Football Playoff committee have the guts to put Alabama in the playoff in that scenario? In the three-year history of the College Football Playoff, every team that has been selected won its conference championship game. If any team could break that precedent, though, it might be Alabama, which has never missed the College Football Playoff. Saban's message to his team after the Iron Bowl, according to defensive tackle DaRon Payne, was " we played our best game, and now we got to leave the debate up to the other teams." Since the inception of the College Football Playoff, Alabama hasn't had to swallow its pride and root for other teams, but welcome to the brave new reality of college football. In addition to rooting for Auburn, Alabama also will be rooting for Ohio State and Urban Meyer next weekend in the Big Ten championship game. A loss by one-loss Oklahoma to TCU would also help Alabama. Nick Saban started stumping for Alabama during his post-Iron Bowl news conference inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. "I think this team deserves the opportunity to get in the playoff by what they've been able to accomplish and what they've been able to do," Saban said. "Certainly not, maybe, in this game, but I think the team we played tonight is a really good football team. Probably one of the best teams in the country." Is Alabama the best one-loss team in the country? The answer is yes, if you start comparing losses. One-loss Miami just lost to Pitt on Friday. It was a horrendous loss for the Canes, and in no way can you make the argument that Miami is better than Alabama. Oklahoma lost to Iowa State. Sure, Iowa State has had a good season by Iowa State's standards, but Iowa State traditionally is one of worst Power 5 teams in the country. The Cyclones lost to Kansas State on Saturday to drop to 5-4 in the Big 12 and 7-5 overall. Is Alabama better than one-loss Clemson? Now this is where things get fun. Clemson's one loss is to Syracuse. Alabama has the edge there, but Clemson defeated Auburn in the second week of the season. That outcome now represents Clemson's best victory of the season. In the words of Auburn coach Gus Malzahn, the Auburn team that lost to Clemson shouldn't be compared to the Auburn team that just defeated No.1 Georgia and No.1 Alabama in November. "We're a completely different team," Malzahn said. "I'm not taking anything away from Clemson. They're a great team, and I think everyone sees that. They were No.2 when we played them...Back then we were still trying to figure out our identity. We had a new quarterback, new coordinator, and you saw us getting better and better." Are there three teams in the country better than Auburn and Alabama? No, there are not. If a six- or eight-team playoff scenario started next weekend, they would likely be the top two seeds. An Iron Bowl national championship isn't out of the question, but to reach heaven, Alabama fans are going to have to go through hell -- losing to Auburn one day, and then having to root for the Tigers the next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbone1430 1,346 Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 Don’t see how the turds deserve to be in when there best win was to number 19 LSU. But of course the media loves them. Let’s hope Wisconsin and Oklahoma win so it leaves no doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641 Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 I don’t want to play Alabama again. Point blank period. I did entertain this when we had heathy RBs, but they hit ours far too hard for my tastes. Plus all that holding and defensive holding, I don’t care to see that again. And then playing a motivated Saban. Nah I’m good on every single aspect of that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDUBB4AU 5,102 Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 Alabama has beat nobody. Horrible fpi. They do not deserve to go . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
looney 794 Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 "In the three-year history of the College Football Playoff, every team that has been selected won its conference championship game." Umm... Fact check? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wareagle13 88 Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 17 minutes ago, tbone1430 said: It could boil down to this: Is one-loss Alabama going to be better in the eyes of the College Football Playoff committee than a one- or two-loss conference champion? And, perhaps more importantly, would the College Football Playoff committee have the guts to put Alabama in the playoff in that scenario? In the three-year history of the College Football Playoff, every team that has been selected won its conference championship game. This isn't true, ohio state was picked last year over big ten champion penn state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbone1430 1,346 Posted November 26, 2017 Author Share Posted November 26, 2017 Just now, wareagle13 said: This isn't true, ohio state was picked last year over big ten champion penn state. I know whoever wrote the piece didn’t do his fact checking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG 33,955 Posted November 26, 2017 Share Posted November 26, 2017 Auburn, Wisconsin, Clemson and OU. Thats how I see it playing out. Seeding will be interesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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