It’s a long shot, but after Saturday’s disappointing loss the Alabama Crimson Tide can still find themselves in Miami on January 7.

After the loss, the Tide dropped just three spots to #4 in this week’s BCS poll. With cream puff games left against Western Carolina, Auburn and Georgia in the SEC Championship game, with a little help the Tide’s return to the big game isn’t at all out of reach.

Consider this:

#1 Kansas State still has dates @ Baylor (4-5) and at home against #15 Texas (8-2).

#2 Oregon must face #13 Stanford (8-2) and travels to rival #16 Oregon State (7-2), then faces the winner of this Saturday’s #18 USC/UCLA game in the Pac 12 championship game. The Ducks defeated USC Nov. 3 in a shoot out.

#3 Notre Dame gets Wake Forrest (5-3) then faces #18 USC (7-3).

Consequently, neither Kansas State nor Notre Dame will have to play in a conference championship game.

In its favor, Alabama is the only team in the top four that will face a top five opponent, given that #5 Georgia can get past Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech before the SEC Championship game. Such a win and 12-1 record in the toughest league in the land may even prove enough to help the Tide jump a spot.

If Bama does make it back to the big game, the loss on its record will be the norm instead of the exception. In fact, of the eight SEC teams that have won the BCS National Championship, only three did so undefeated. Only 1998’s Tennessee, 2009’s Alabama and 2010’s Auburn did so unscathed.

No other team that’s won the title from any other conference has ever done it with a loss. Yet besides ’98, ’09 and ’10, every other time the SEC has taken the trophy the winner has done so with a league blemish…including an astounding 2-loss tally for LSU in 2007.

Admittedly, Alabama really hurt itself by not finishing the deal Saturday against Texas A&M. What is more likely than a date in Miami is a date in New Orleans against Notre Dame.

But then again, nobody could conceive the cards stacked against the Tide in 2011 falling into place last season either, and that road was much harder see than what has to happen this year.


(Follow me on Twitter for Bama news, commentary and smack.)

18 thoughts on “Bama holds firm at 4th in the BCS, controls its own destiny”

  1. Pingback: Bama holds firm at 4th in the BCS, controls its own destiny - Capstone Report | Newz Kast
  2. Pingback: National college football roundup: Welcome to SEC, Texas A&M - The Detroit News | Newz Kast

  3. OMG, TRUTH, the KlanNeck Cajun, will lose his mind when he reads this!!! It is possible that Notre Dame & Kansas St will lose. Oregon, not so much

  4. I wouldn’t say that RC. They play two and possibly three 2 loss teams in a row. The only 2 loss team they’ve played so far gave them fits. It was a 2 loss team that beat us. And Stanford has the kind of defense that can slow them down. Here’s hoping. Here’s hoping Brown has found a way for Texas to play defense. And Notre Dame hasn’t even sniffed an offense like USC’s. I don’t count Chokelahoma. RTR!

    2. Came here to say what Josh did. When you need other teams to lose, you don’t control your own destiny. That’s the definition. We controlled our own destiny before the loss to A&M. And now we don’t.

  6. They are coming out of the woodworks round here! Crazier things have happened. Bama needs to finish strong and see how it all plays out. Not holding my breath. Still proud of BAMA for what we have accomplished. RTR!!!

    1. What’s funnier than a VOL fan having to settle for others’ success?

      NOTHING!

      Six years in a row, VOL! There are first graders learning to read and write right now that have never been alive for a Tennessee win over Alabama!

      The last time Tennessee beat Bama George W. Bush was only halfway through his second term!!!!!

      Ya’ll suck!

    1. I agree. Alabama has lost 7 games in the last 5 years. There are two teams in this state that have lost at least 7 games THIS year, UAB and Auburn (basically the same team/program). I guess I will take the troubled Alabama program….

  10. I said nothing against you RC. Maybe you are just an asshole with a chip on your shoulder against Whitey likelike Tooth says.

Comments are closed.