Alabama is back in the Top 10, and the door it just reopened may be bigger than the one it walked through a week ago.
After dropping out of the top tier following its second straight loss and an ugly night in Knoxville, the Crimson Tide climbed right back to No. 10 in this week’s AP Poll after an 11-point win over Texas A&M and a little help from the chaos around them. Alabama moved up three spots and suddenly looks planted again in the thick of the College Football Playoff conversation.
What makes this jump matter isn’t just the ranking. Alabama is now the highest-ranked two-loss team in the poll, which is at least a strong signal of where it stands in the national picture right now. That doesn’t mean the playoff committee will see it the exact same way, but it’s still a meaningful marker for a team that had been staring at a far narrower margin for error just a week ago.
The path that looked like a must-win sprint before Texas A&M is not quite as rigid now. The cleanest route still runs through a perfect finish, with Alabama needing to win its final five regular-season games to get to 10-2. But with the way the season has unfolded, there’s a growing sense that 9-3 may not be a dead end anymore.
That’s because the SEC is beating itself up, and the rest of the country isn’t doing anyone any favors either. The league’s standings are crowded with two-loss teams, and there are still plenty of head-to-head games left to sort out.
Through eight weeks, only Georgia and Kentucky are sitting with just one loss among SEC teams. Six others already have two, and several of them still have to play one another.
Kentucky’s rise also gives Alabama another helpful item in its pocket: that lopsided 45-17 road win in Lexington from Week 2 now looks even better after the Wildcats’ own surge.
This season has taken on a familiar kind of madness. It’s being described as a 2007-style mess, and the “year of the hangover” label fits the weekly rhythm so far.
Big wins keep getting followed by surprise losses. Georgia beat Alabama, then lost at home to Auburn the next week.
BYU knocked off Notre Dame, then lost at UCF. Tennessee beat Alabama, then fell to South Carolina.
That kind of volatility is exactly why Alabama’s playoff picture is no longer confined to one lane. There may be more than one way into the 12-team field now, and a 9-3 finish might be good enough to stay alive in the bubble discussion.
That doesn’t change the immediate task. Alabama heads to Baton Rouge after its bye week, and the LSU game on November 7 still looms like a season-defining test.
Even if the broader picture is opening up, the Crimson Tide should treat the next stretch like every game can slam that window shut. They may not technically be in a win-or-go-home moment yet, but the way this season is going, it sure feels close.
In Other News...
Alabama Fans Have A Real Reason To Watch Keon Sabb Closely
Keon Sabbs role bears watching after Alabamas win over Texas A&M, when the safety did not take a defensive snap during the final four series despite showing no obvious signs of injury. With the Crimson Tide already juggling a secondary hit by injuries, a suspension and an ejection, the late-game rotation got even more interesting as sophomore Ivan Taylor and freshman Jireh Edwards both stepped in.
Edwards also replaced Sabb on the punt return unit in the second half, another small but notable wrinkle in a game where Alabama kept adjusting on the fly. The absence came at a point when the Tide were already managing their back end carefully, so whether this was simply a situational decision or something more is now part of the conversation heading into the next week. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Heads Into The Bye With One Big Roster Concern
Alabama walked out of College Station with a 31-20 win over Texas A&M, a result that stopped the skid and gave Kalen DeBoer a much-needed reset heading into the bye week. The victory came after two straight losses, so the mood around the program shifted quickly from frustration to a chance to regroup, evaluate where things stand and get healthier before the next stretch.
DeBoer used his postgame news conference to address all of it, from how the Tide played to how he views the roster heading into the break. The bigger point for Alabama is what comes next, with the staff hoping the bye helps bring some key players back and settles at least one lingering roster concern before the season resumes. [Read more 🡒]
Alabama Had The Perfect Birthday Surprise Waiting For Kalen DeBoer
Kalen DeBoers birthday ended the same way Alabamas win over Texas A&M did, with a celebration in the locker room and a little bit of harmless chaos. After the Crimson Tide took care of business against the Aggies, safety Bray Hubbard and left tackle Jackson Lloyd got the party started with an ice bucket shower for their head coach, turning a postgame moment into a birthday surprise.
DeBoer had already given his players a simple condition for the day: celebrate however they wanted, just make sure they left with a victory. Alabama handled the first part on the field and the second part in the locker room, where the coach got his fitting reward for a birthday that doubled as another sign of how much buy-in he has from his team. [Read more 🡒]