Alabama fans celebrate TCU loss as College Football Playoff door is wide open

Nick Saban, Alabama Crimson Tide. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Nick Saban, Alabama Crimson Tide. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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The Alabama Crimson Tide faithful were celebrating a potential College Football Playoff berth after the TCU Horned Frogs lost in the Big 12 Championship Game.

After suffering losses to Tennessee and LSU, Alabama’s chances of making it into the College Football Playoff appeared to be over. Slowly but surely, the teams ahead of them in the CFP rankings began losing, such as Tennessee, LSU, Ohio State and USC. Just like that, there was a glimmer of hope for the Crimson Tide to sneak into the Playoff. All they needed was for the TCU Horned Frogs to lose.

That’s exactly what happened on Saturday. Undefeated TCU fell to the Kansas State Wildcats 31-28 in overtime. With that, the door for Alabama to sneak into the Playoff just creaked open a bit wider for them to potentially earn one of the top four spots.

Alabama fans were ecstatic after watching TCU suffer their first loss of the season.

Alabama fans celebrate TCU loss in Big 12 Championship Game

While Alabama fans may be celebrating, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to get into the Playoff. Let’s not forget that TCU lost in overtime, which they forced after overcoming a 28-17 deficit.

The Horned Frogs were able to tie the game on their penultimate drive of the game, thanks in part to quarterback Max Duggan. On that drive, Duggan ran for 87 yards on four carries, before he reached the end zone on an eight-yard touchdown run. From there, Duggan connected with Jared Wiley for the two-point conversion to tie things up.

But in overtime, TCU had Duggan run the ball once, which fell just short of a touchdown. Then, the Horned Frogs never gave him the ball back. Horned Frogs running back Kendre Miller was stuffed on third- and fourth downs to turn the ball over.

Kansas State then got possession and watched as Ty Zentner won them a Big 12 title after successfully kicking a 31-yard field goal.

Bama fans may be celebrating now, but let’s see if they will be during the CFP selection show on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

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