Getty The 10-2 Alabama Crimson Tide.
For just the second time in the College Football Playoff’s nine-year history, Alabama football won’t be a part of it. To many fans, then, the 2022 Crimson Tide are a failure.
CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah shared a similar assessment, calling the campaign a “program floor” while painting a bleak picture of how 2022 went for Alabama.
“The Tide were not their usual selves during a middling 10-2 campaign — a program floor by Alabama standards,” Jeyarajah wrote in a December 8 column on college football’s winners and losers. “Alabama was 1-6 against the spread against winning teams and needed hectic finishes just to beat Texas and Texas A&M. It also ranked 127th out of 131 teams in penalties per game.”
Jeyarajah did not note that the team still finished fifth in the final CFP ranking, just outside the four-team playoff, and lost its two games by a total of four points to two ranked opponents (52-49 to No. 6 Tennessee and 32-31 to No. 15 LSU).
“Instead of ending with three straight SEC titles, championship weekend featured Nick Saban pandering for a playoff spot,” Jeyarajah wrote. “With [quarterback Bryce] Young, who is the heart and soul of a flawed team, likely off to the NFL, there will be plenty of soul-searching to do in Tuscaloosa.”
Young likely won’t be the only NFL defection, as Will Anderson Jr., Jordan Battle, Brian Branch, and Jahmyr Gibbs are all expected to be selected in either the first or second round of the draft.
Joel Klatt on Why Alabama Didn’t Make College Football Playoff
Ultimately, Nick Saban’s best argument for Alabama being in the College Football Playoff was that they’d be favored over the likes of TCU and Ohio State if they were playing, but that argument would have to ignore what happened when they were favored by more than a touchdown before losing to Tennessee and LSU.
Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt explained to Colin Cowherd on the December 5 edition of “The Herd” that banking on the strength of losses doesn’t get you nearly as far as hanging your hat on the teams you actually beat.
“I think it was the play, and the committee told us it was the play leading into last week,” Klatt said. “Alabama didn’t have a great argument. In fact, Alabama’s best argument is that Vegas would probably favor us in a game against any of those other teams. And while that might be the case, they were also an eight-point favorite, or right around there, against LSU in a game that they lost. Your best losses can’t be your argument in this sport. It’s about who you [beat].”
Alabama Football Has Lost Double-Digit Transfers to Portal
With Alabama football underwhelming all season and ending up in the December 31 Sugar Bowl, a New Year’s Six game outside the College Football Playoff, the program will face inescapable scrutiny right up to kickoff, immediately after the game and throughout next season — until the time the Crimson Tide gets a chance to silence the talk by getting back to the CFP.
Some players are already abandoning ship. Twelve players (as of this writing) have entered the transfer portal to find a new home in college football: Javion Cohen, Damieon George, Amari Kight, Tommy Brockermeyer, Tanner Bowles, JoJo Earle, Traeshon Holden, Christian Leary, Trey Sanders, Khyree Jackson, Braylen Ingraham, and Jack Martin have all hit the portal since it officially opened on December 5.