Alabama Crimson Tide have national title hopes
The Alabama Crimson Tide have a legitimate chance at playing for a national title if they are able to go undefeated the rest of the season.
The Crimson Tide’s title hopes were thought to have been dashed when they suffered a devastating loss at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks on 9 October, dropping their record to 5-1. Since that time Alabama has won their last two games and now sits
at 7-1 with a 4-1 record against conference opponents. Their play has been good enough to earn the sixth spot in the Bowl Championship Standings, which is the highest ranking of any team without an unbeaten record.
Despite the fact that the Crimson Tide are outside the top five they have a real chance at playing for a national championship.
The Tide has a difficult end of year schedule, which sees them play the number 10 LSU Tigers, the number 20 Mississippi State Bulldogs and finally the number two ranked Auburn Tigers. Alabama will have to go unbeaten for the rest of the season if they want
to have a shot at the national title. However, the likelihood of the squad winning out is very high. Alabama has had little struggle against ranked teams, already defeating three of them in 2010.
If the Crimson Tide go undefeated there will still be many questioning their national title campaign, as they lost to the Gamecocks. However, up to this point South Carolina leads the SEC East and would play Alabama in the conference championships at the
end of the year. If the Crimson Tide won that game they would be able to say they had beaten everyone on their schedule, in the country’s most difficult conference.
Moreover, if Alabama was able to go undefeated for the rest of the season they would have beaten Auburn, moving the Tigers out of the top five, paving the way for their shot at a national title.
The Crimson Tide does not have to contend with the Oregon Ducks, who at this point are guaranteed a title shot if they go undefeated. Instead the Tide will have to battle with the Boise State Broncos, the TCU Horned Frogs and the Utah Utes.
Nevertheless, as soon as week 10, one of the Utes or Horned Frogs will have been dropped from the top five and their title shots will have been quashed, as the two clubs match up on Saturday 6 November. This leaves Boise State and the winner of the week
10 game between Utah and TCU. A loss from Boise State would clear the way for the Tide, but even an unbeaten Boise State is not likely to be granted a chance at a national championship over a one-loss SEC champion.
The strength of the SEC plays heavily in Alabama’s favour. The Ducks are likely to qualify from the Pac-10, which is considered the nation’s second best conference, and voters will be keen on having a representative from what many consider the best conference
in the country, the SEC.
Moreover, the SEC has produced the last four national champions, defeating the Big Ten and the Big 12 twice each in the last four years. The strength of the SEC is unrivalled and Boise State will not get the credit they may rightfully deserve coming out
of the WAC.
Alabama may have their work cut out for them, but they once again have a clear path to the national championship, which is based on defeating a number-two ranked Auburn side and an SEC East-leading South Carolina team. If the Crimson Tide are able to execute,
they should be playing for a national title for the second year in a row on 3 January 2011.
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