It was fashionable, not too long ago, to declare the 2024 Alabama Crimson Tide dead and buried.
Between losing in a generational upset to Vanderbilt and then again just 14 days later at rival Tennessee, reams of stories were generated (including right here at SDS by yours truly) about how the Crimson Tide’s reign of terror in the SEC was finished and how it had gone so bad so quickly for new coach Kalen DeBoer
Naturally, of course, the confluence of events that followed – both in and out of Alabama’s control – brought the Tide back from irrelevance and reinserted them back into the College Football Playoff picture. Still, there is a big difference between earning the No. 12 seed in the new world that is the 2024 Playoff and being a top 4 seed, and there certainly wasn’t a way for Alabama to worm its way
back there … right?
Right?
As a certain pencil-wielding former coach/mascot-loving pundit might say: “Not so fast, my friend.”
Because after doing the math, DeBoer’s Alabama unit is in position to play in a game that might as well appear chiseled into the program’s annual schedule – the Southeastern Conference Championship Game.
How is this possible, you ask? This is a Crimson Tide team that so underperformed in Nashville against Vanderbilt on Oct. 5 that Commodore fans stormed the field, tore down a goalpost and paraded it miles through downtown to gleefully deposit it into the Cumberland River. And this is a team that sputtered for 60 minutes in Knoxville on Oct. 19 against Tennessee in a game that saw Volunteers fans storm their field and tear down a goalpost.
Two games, 2 losses, 2 goalposts destroyed. That should be enough to take down any team for a season.
But not Alabama in 2024.
Thankfully for the Crimson Tide, there are no more games scheduled in the state of Tennessee for the rest of the season (though goalpost manufacturers certainly appreciated the business …) – but what is ahead for Alabama certainly doesn’t qualify as a small batch of cupcakes.
First is a trip to Norman to take on new SEC mate Oklahoma this weekend. Yes, the Sooners are 5-5, and coach Brent Venables received the kiss of death last week when Oklahoma’s president and athletic director giving him a vote of confidence after a board of regents meeting.
So what if the Sooners are just 1-5 in their new league? So what if Venables seems to be playing Rock Paper Scissors when deciding on if Jackson Arnold or Michael Hawkins Jr. will play quarterback on a given week? And so what if Venables has considered having open tryouts to find receivers and offensive linemen due to a rash of injuries?
No matter what the past has brought, this Sooners team is still talented. And playing at Memorial Stadium will still be a challenging test for Alabama – even as a 2-touchdown road favorite.
Get past Oklahoma, and the annual Iron Bowl clash with Auburn looms. And anyone who has ever spent 10 minutes analyzing the past 50 years of Alabama football knows that all the records get thrown out the window in this rivalry.
So what if Auburn is 4-6 and on the verge of sitting home this postseason should it not upset Texas A&M this week? So what if Hugh Freeze’s ballclub seems to have regressed in Year 2? And so what if toilet paper stockpiles are a record heights in Lee County due to all this mediocrity?
No matter what the past has brought, this Tigers team is … ah heck, who are we kidding here? Auburn is awful – even more so than Oklahoma, which beat Auburn 27-21 on Sept. 28. One has got to wonder how the heck the Tigers went to Kentucky 3 weeks after that loss and upended the Wildcats 24-10 for their lone SEC win this season.
The bottom line is this: Alabama wins as prohibitive favorites against a pair of woeful SEC teams and the Tide are back in Atlanta yet again. DeBoer’s team holds all the tiebreakers against the other potential 6-2 conference teams, and likely would get the Texas/Texas A&M winner for a shot at the SEC title and an automatic Top 4 seed in the 12-team Playoff.
Fair? Unfair? Perfect confluence of events? Whatever color lens you view Alabama’s current situation – it is amazing that the Tide still control their own fate.
