- Alabama is supposed to be a playoff team. Are we sure about that, after this clunky Iron Bowl win against struggling Auburn?
- Crowded CFP bubble includes Alabama. Tide would remove doubt by winning SEC Championship.
- Auburn coaching search needs to end somewhere other than DJ Durkin.
AUBURN, AL – Alabama is a playoff team. At least, that’s what the selection committee’s rankings told us this week.
What about next week? Some shuffling could be in order.
Because, as I watched No. 10 Alabama yuck and muck around in a 27-20 victory in the Iron Bowl, I had to remind myself a few times that this is supposed to be a playoff team.
Could’ve fooled me.
Alabama survived this scare by forcing and recovering a fumble to halt Auburn 20 yards short of tying the score, late in the fourth quarter.
Or, maybe I’m the fool, because this is probably just what a borderline playoff team looks like in this 12-team CFP era.
Flawed and occasionally brilliant. Talented but imperfect. Better than most, but far from elite.
Alabama’s resume is as good or better than that of Notre Dame, Brigham Young, Miami, Vanderbilt, Texas, Utah or anyone else you might want to shove onto this crowded bubble.
If the Tide win the SEC Championship game against Georgia, they’re in the playoff, no questions asked.
If they lose but show well, they’re back on the bubble. Which side of the bubble? Don’t ask me, that’s for the committee to decide.
Bigger College Football Playoff means flawed contenders like Alabama
I guess I’m still rewiring to what a playoff team looks like. Two years ago, this Alabama team probably would’ve been headed toward something like the Citrus Bowl. Now, that’s a playoff team.
Maybe. Maybe not. This lackluster performance left some work to be done.
‘It wasn’t perfect, … but they had their backs to the wall, and I’m really proud of the way they’ve just continued to grit and grind,’ said Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, whose team scored the winning touchdown on Ty Simpson’s fourth-and-2 toss with less than four minutes to go.
If Alabama loses to Georgia in Atlanta and misses the playoff, that’s no travesty. The playoff can exist without this team.
If Alabama qualifies, that’s no travesty, either. Roughly six bubble teams are vying for about two spots, and I’m not convinced much separates any of those teams.
On this night, not much separated Alabama from five-win Auburn.
I know what the fine folks in the SEC headquarters in Birmingham would say. They’d tell you this was another sign of the conference’s depth and how tough it is to win on road in the SEC, and nothing is a given in rivalry games, and more propaganda goes here.
Some of that’s probably true, and it’s also true Ohio State bludgeoned rival Michigan in the snow in Ann Arbor, hours before Alabama beat Auburn in a pillow fight on the Plains filled with penalties, dropped passes and enough incompletions to fill a full month for the Buckeyes’ Julian Sayin.
While Ohio State, Indiana and Texas Tech feasted on their foes this Thanksgiving weekend, Alabama needed some fourth-quarter grit to fend off one of the SEC’s worst teams.
“We’re 10-2 and 7-1 in the SEC,’ DeBoer said. ‘We’ve got quality strength wins and some wins on the road. We’ve got more than a playoff-caliber football team. There’s not a question in my mind.”
Does Auburn elevate DJ Durkin? Surely not
Competitive though it was, this won’t be remembered as one of the finest installments in the 90 editions of the Iron Bowl. Auburn’s first three possessions produced no first downs, six yards and three punts. Tigers receivers dropped about as many passes as they caught.
You could’ve headed up to the highest reaches of Section 57 in the upper deck and found a few fellas who could’ve devised a better game plan than Auburn trotted out in a miserable first quarter.
The Tigers finally moved the chains for the first time, seconds before the first quarter ended, and the home fans let out a cheer at least half-baked in derision.
Those turned to impassioned cheers in the second half, as Auburn rallied and tied the score in the fourth quarter.
Hard though these Tigers fought, Auburn fans deserve so much better than five miserable losing seasons in a row and six straight Iron Bowl defeats. Some fans probably exited Jordan-Hare Stadium fearful that this competitive Iron Bowl might persuade athletic director John Cohen to remove the interim tag from DJ Durkin and pretend he’s the solution to all that ails Auburn.
What a heaping helping of humble pie a Durkin hire would be.
Durkin is a capable defensive coordinator, but Auburn needs a coaching direction more hopeful than someone with a 12-17 career record.
Maryland fired Durkin from his last coaching job in 2018 amid a season of human tragedy, strife and an internal investigation that produced findings of a problematic culture and alarming allegations against the team’s strength coach.
Surely, Auburn should expect more of itself than simply promoting Hugh Freeze’s leftover lieutenant.
DeBoer should expect more from his offense than what the Tide mustered here.
Simpson cannot seriously be called a Heisman Trophy candidate anymore.
Can Alabama be called a playoff team? I wouldn’t expect the committee to be convinced by this performance.
Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.
