Alabama football finished strong and awaits the College Football Playoff

Happy Monday everyone. You won’t be getting Alabama football for a while, and when you do, it may or may not be in the College Football Playoff. What we do know is that Kalen DeBoer, along with select players, beat Auburn in the first attempt.

DeBoer won “The Big One” in his first year, defeating Auburn behind a much-improved performance from Jalen Milroe, who completed 18 of 24 passes for 256 yards and 104 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Alabama won for the fifth straight time against Auburn.

In doing so, DeBoer became just the third Alabama coach since 1948 – the year the rivalry resumed after a 41-yard absence – to win his first Iron Bowl showdown. He joined Dennis Franchione (2001) and Alabama coach Gene Stallings (1990).

DeBoer also joined Nick Saban as the only coaches to beat Auburn in Tuscaloosa.

Kalen talked about the sideline and made his pitch for the playoffs.

“I saw the first part of it and thought… I understand there was a part where we probably didn’t handle it as well as we needed to. I don’t want to get too involved in it. I know there was something that led to this, but that’s all I know,” DeBoer said. “It was on the other sideline so you can’t see much. It certainly gave them some momentum with the (penalty) yards they got after that. But it’s an emotional game. It builds on that and the game itself, and the back and forth with a lot of swings in swing. It’s not okay, but I understand where the emotions were on both sides. There were a lot of people over there, so it was hard for me to tell what was really going on.”

“When you talk about the schedule and what it looks like week to week, it’s just tedious,” DeBoer said. “Since we have to come back every week, the only conference that has to do that is ours. I would say that. We’ve won five of our last six. Play physical football. I think we have continued to excel in this area. What the game is about. I think those are two pretty big deals. Beat some quality teams. I think the teams that are still out there are playing good ball themselves. And in the second half of the season I’ve just won five of the last six.”

Ahead of Alabama in the rankings, No. 6 Miami suffered a second loss as Syracuse beat the Hurricanes 42-38. Meanwhile, No. 12 Clemson lost to No. 15 South Carolina.

This week we are all SMU Mustangs. Both the AP and Coaches polls have the Tide ranked 11th, and we hope the committee follows suit.

That’s for next week. What changed in the planned CFP range this week? Texas replaces Georgia as SEC champions. SMU is now the ACC representative after Miami’s loss knocked the Hurricanes out of the field. After losing to Southern California, Notre Dame improved its seeding and will now host a first-round game. And the SEC brings its fourth team into the field, with Alabama defeating South Carolina by three losses based on head-to-head results between the schools.

We don’t need Clemson muddying the waters.

Things don’t look so good on the plains.

Auburn and Freeze now face some serious and difficult questions. This season marked a step backwards for the Tigers – last year, a six-win Auburn team reached the Music City Bowl – and Freeze was hired in part because of his success in wins against Alabama. He is now 0-2 in Iron Bowls and called the season “humiliating” and “frustrating.” Auburn has now lost the last five Iron Bowls.

“We have a top-10 (recruiting) class and hopefully we can get another one next week,” Freeze said after the game. “We have to go back and try to finish it and then enter the portal to make sure we don’t feel like this next year.”

Sounds like Hugh is about to hire more hookers “for himself.”

Finally, Bryce Young has had something of a breakthrough since returning to the starting lineup. The Panthers still aren’t winning, but he’s looking better.

That’s it for today. I wish you a great week.

Roll Tide.