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Alabama deserved College Football Playoff berth and TCU proved it

By Cody Williams

Dec 31, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban watches game action against the Kansas State Wildcats during the first half in the 2022 Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban watches game action against the Kansas State Wildcats during the first half in the 2022 Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports /
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Alabama fans made it clear the Crimson Tide deserved to be in the College Football Playoff and TCU upsetting Michigan proved it for them.

Let’s be very clear — it would’ve taken a world of chaos for a two-loss team to make the College Football Playoff in the four-team format, even if that team was the Alabama Crimson Tide. And as we know, there wasn’t quite enough as Nick Saban’s team ended up as the No. 5 team in the selection committee’s final rankings.

That didn’t stop fans from voicing a clear opinion, however: Bama still deserved a spot in the Playoff.

Despite the narrow losses to Tennessee and LSU that gave the Crimson Tide a 10-2 final record and knocked them out of the SEC Championship Game, there was a clear case that Alabama was one of the four best teams in the country still. They just needed some way to validate that opinion.

On Saturday night at the Fiesta Bowl — coupled, of course, with Bama’s dominant performance in the Allstate Sugar Bowl — the TCU Horned Frogs gave them all the ammo that they need for their argument.

Alabama College Football Playoff plea made valid with TCU upsetting Michigan

TCU may have only won by six points against Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl, but the Horned Frogs pulled off the big upset after jumping out to a big lead and then clinging onto it just long enough. In doing so, Sonny Dykes’ team pulled off the biggest upset in Playoff history as they were 8-point underdogs. But they also proved Alabama’s point.

The one loss that TCU had on the year came in the Big 12 Championship Game against Kansas State, a team they struggled with and had to come from behind to beat in the regular season. Well, that’s the same K-State team that Bama could’ve hung a 50-burger on in their dominant Sugar Bowl victory on Saturday afternoon and never truly sweated being on the field with.

By that measure, the Crimson Tide blew out a team that is now going to play for the national championship on Jan. 9. So how could you not look at them and think they aren’t truly one of the four best teams in college football?

Alas, the two losses deprived us all of getting a definitive answer to if that was the case. The 12-team College Football Playoff is coming in 2024, though, and that will put an end to a lot of these arguments.

Next. 5 Alabama stars who won’t be back in 2023 and who will replace them. dark

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