The 84th Iron Bowl: Keeping Bama’s Playoff Hopes Alive

My beloved Crimson Tide must beat Auburn to have a snowflake’s chance in Hell of making the College Football Playoffs. Auburn hasn’t won back-to-back home Iron Bowls since 2005 and 2007, but the Tigers would love nothing more than to knock their Bama rivals out of playoff contention.

This year’s Iron Bowl doesn’t have the same deafening buzz as in years past.  Neither team has a path to Atlanta for the SEC Championship.  Only Alabama has an opportunity for a playoff spot if they get help from around college football during Rivalry Week/Championship Saturday. Alabama is the only team to have made the first five college playoffs.  That streak is in jeopardy.

Root for Michigan:  If the Buckeyes lose to the Wolverines and lose next week in Indianapolis, Bama has a chance of getting in.

Root for South Carolina:  The ACC is in the cellar this season.  Any loss for Clemson would destroy the Tigers’ chances for the playoffs.

Root for the Rambling Wreck:  The Jawja Bulldawgs losing a second game against an ACC team would damage their rèsumè with the Selection Committee, but we’ll leave crossing them off the list to Coach Oeaux’s LSU Tigers.

Root for the Badgers:  If the Badgers beat Minnesota, they would face Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.  A one-loss Ohio State alongside a conference champion Minnesota or Wisconsin team would add chaos to the Selection Committee rankings.

Simply stated, for Alabama to make the playoffs the top three teams (Ohio State, LSU and Clemson) would have to remain the same, Alabama beats Auburn today and Georgia loses the SEC title game against LSU next week in Atlanta.

Can the stringbean wearing No. 10 who was thrust into the spotlight to replace Superman lead the Tide to victory in a game that means everything to the players in Crimson and White?

The sports experts and pundits have written off the Tide for weeks now and I think Alabama will show up and prove they are, in fact, one of the top four teams in the country.

The game will be decided in the matchup between Alabama’s offensive line and Auburn’s defense.  If Bama’s O-line can protect Mac Jones, he’ll be able to get rid of the ball and let his receivers torch the Auburn secondary.

The training wheels are definitely off.  Offensive Coordinator Steve Sarkisian will call the game as if Tagovailoa were starting the game.  He’ll be aggressive relying on the run and RPOs.  Mac can handle that kind of game plan.

Blogger friend and SEC sister, Diogenes, has a great post over at her place.  We eat, drink and sleep college football and if she says Bama wins today, then you can take that to the bank.