The man is known as “Legend” for a reason: his legendary rants about Alabama football on “The Paul Finebaum Show.”
Just two Mondays ago, he called for the firing of coach Kalen DeBoer after an ugly 24-3 loss to Oklahoma, telling the story of an aunt who was married “about eight” times. Her explanation for having many husbands? “You can’t fix stupid things,” Legend said. “But you can divorce it.”
The legend was just beginning.
“Man, I’ve never been so embarrassed in my entire life,” he continued, lamenting that Bama had not only lost three times this season, but that it was, in his opinion, out of the playoff chase fell.
Well, Legend, and the rest of the Alabama fans (and Alabama haters) who understandably buried the Tide after that Norman disaster…not so fast.
Call them the Zombie Tide, or call it the reality of a 12-team playoff that someone has to compete in, or just believe in the power of (some) SEC schedules, but it’s not quite over yet.
Actually it looks pretty good.
The College Football Playoff committee ranked Alabama at No. 11 on Tuesday night, which would make them the last major team in the playoff field. Opinions and rankings may change before Sunday’s final decision, but with no more games left to play by the Crimson Tide or any of the other teams vying to sneak onto the field, there should be laughter in Tuscaloosa.
DeBoer’s club is about to pull out an Undertaker and jump out of his casket.
Of course, there are still pratfalls. No. No. 17 Clemson could still steal a bid by beating No. 9 SMU in the ACC title game, which could lead to the committee keeping SMU in the field after all. In that case, Alabama would be jumped. The same perhaps if No. 20 UNLV won the Mountain West and the committee still stuck with No. 10 Boise State.
That said, Alabama has to be happy with its spot, as its 9-3 record includes two cringe-inducing (and radio-apoplectic) losses to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. On the other hand, the Tide benefits from a schedule heavy on quality wins (No. 5 Georgia, No. 14 South Carolina and No. 19 Missouri).
“What it really came down to is that Alabama is 3-1 against the top 25 teams, and Miami is 0-1,” committee chairman Warde Manuel said on ESPN. “Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500. Miami is 4-2. In evaluating their body of work, we felt Alabama had the edge over Miami.”
Should that be enough? Does losing to non-winning, unranked teams matter?
It doesn’t seem prohibitively expensive for the selection committee, which put Alabama just ahead of 10-2 Miami — which has “better losses” but zero wins over a top 25 team. Then there’s No. 13 Ole Miss (9-3) with two wins over top 25 teams (also Georgia and South Carolina), but no third.
Also notable: Indiana is ranked No. 9. The Hoosiers are comfortably in the field, but at 11-1 are also without a win over a top 25 opponent and trail two-loss teams Georgia (5th), Ohio State (6th) and Tennessee (7th).
Make no mistake: the howls of protest and political lobbying are coming.
Alabama only got in because it’s a big brand, some might say. Alabama only came in for ratings, others will suggest. Alabama only got in because the committee had to favor the SEC and bring in a team from the fourth division.
Miami will point to those losses to 6-6 teams Oklahoma (24-3) and Vanderbilt (40-35) and cry foul. Ole Miss will note that it defeated both Georgia and South Carolina by more points than the Tide. Analytics, statistics, etc. will be cited by everyone.
Maybe it could sway the committee every now and then, but that doesn’t seem likely.
“That depends on how we see them going into the last week,” Manuel said. “Nothing is going to change.”
That means the Zombie Tide might be back, just two weeks after everyone — even their most die-hard supporters — gave up on them.
“You’re not going to the playoffs and any true Alabama fan doesn’t care now because there’s nothing at stake!” The legend then raged. “…It’s about national championships in Alabama. I don’t care about beating a weak Auburn team! It’s about playoffs and championships! It’s just sad!”
Alabama fans buried them that day.
But it turned out they weren’t dead.
