Alabama Deemed Week 11’s Biggest Winner by USA Today

Losing to Ole Miss would have been the end of the world for many Alabama fans, but the Crimson Tide was able to avoid any calamity of that caliber by handling their business on November 12 against formerly No. 9 Ole Miss.

The Crimson Tide’s 30-24 win over the Rebels earned Alabama the status of biggest winner of Week 11 of the college football season according to USA Today’s Paul Myerberg in his latest winners and losers column.

“You could’ve seen the headlines from hours away,” Myerberg wrote. “Is Alabama done? Is the dynasty over? Where do the Crimson Tide go from here? Is this it for Nick Saban? Instead, the Tide can fend off those concerns for at least one more week and basically book a ticket into one of the New Year’s Six bowls.”

The Bad News for Alabama After Week 11 Win

While fending off Nick Saban’s former protégé Lane Kiffin and his Ole Miss Rebels was undoubtedly a victory for the Crimson Tide faithful — though it didn’t come in spread-covering fashion for Alabama bettors — there’s still some bad news that came on November 12.

Mainly, that LSU’s 13-10 victory over Arkansas in Fayetteville likely punched a ticket for the Tigers to Atlanta to represent the SEC West in the SEC Championship game — something USA Today’s Paul Myerberg pointed out in his winners and losers of Week 11 column.

“Unfortunately, Alabama’s win hands the SEC West to LSU, which pulled off an ugly win at Arkansas and will represent the division in the conference championship game by virtue of head-to-head tiebreakers against the Tide and Rebels,” Myerberg wrote. “Since kicking off the dynasty under Saban in 2008, the Tide have won the West in every season but five, most recently finishing second behind LSU in 2019.”

Alabama’s Unlikely Path to the College Football Playoff

Mathematically, Alabama is not yet eliminated from the College Football Playoff. If they can defeat their final two opponents Austin Peay (a given) and Auburn, who looks significantly improved under interim head coach Carnell “Cadillac” Williams, they’d put themselves into the SEC title game if LSU doesn’t win their final two games.

Brian Kelly’s Tigers will need to take care of UAB at home on November 19 during the SEC’s late-season tune-up week before taking on Texas A&M at Kyle Field to finish up the campaign on the road to punch LSU’s ticket to Atlanta. Thus far, UAB has been announced as a two-touchdown underdog, while odds haven’t been released for the Aggies matchup

Of course, Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M team has fallen apart at the seams in 2022. The Aggies have lost six straight games to in-conference opponents and are 3-7 overall due to an early-season loss against Appalachian State on September 10. Their futility plus the possibility that the Iron Bowl can produce unpredictable moments — especially with an Auburn team playing closer to their talent level the past two Saturdays with Bryan Harsin having been fired on October 31 — creates a major question mark for whether or not Alabama can make it back to the SEC Championship game.

Even if they did, they’d need to knock off undefeated Georgia to be considered for the College Football Playoff. This very likely could be the second time since its inception that Alabama misses the CFP.