Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer isn't accepting his team's possible fate of not making the College Football Playoff's 2025/2026 field.
DeBoer whined that conference championship games shouldn't exist if the Tide are eliminated following a 28-7 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game.
“If this game applies to and takes away from our résumé, I don’t think that’s right,” DeBoer said. “I really don’t. I think a precedent has been set. I don’t know how you can go into a conference playoff game when you’re the No. 1 seed and did all these things throughout the year … how that can hurt you and keep you out of the Playoff when we’ve done what we’ve done all year.”
Paul Finebaum, Alabama's unofficial media PR representative, launched into attacking the Notre Dame Fighting Irish's CFP resume, which, unlike the Tide's, only features two losses.
“They should be in, but they made it unnecessarily difficult for the committee because of an utterly humiliating performance,” Finebaum told AL.com on Saturday. “They will likely drop to the cut line, but it would be egregious to cost a school a berth in the field because they qualified for the conference game while Notre Dame isn’t even in a conference.
“The win at Georgia over the eventual SEC winner should matter."
Auburn could've ended any doubt on Alabama in the Iron Bowl
Alabama may get into the CFP. They might not. But that there's even a question about it, after laying an egg a day before the selection committee unveils the field, is the fault of the Auburn Tigers for losing a winnable Iron Bowl.
The Tigers could've put questions about the Tide to bed before the CFP selection committee potentially wastes an at-large bid on an undeserving Power 4 team. Instead, they built a 17-0 hole and never climbed out of it.
It would've been nice for Alabama to have been exposed by Auburn instead of Georgia, but at least someone did it. Let's hope the CFP selection committee knows better than to give the Tide an unearned chance.