Heather Dinich removes Alabama from College Football Playoff picture following Week 1 loss

ESPN’s Heather Dinich couldn’t bother to put Alabama in her College Football Playoff Top 12 rankings following opening weekend. The Crimson Tide were upset by unranked Florida State, 31-17.

Pegged as a national title contender in Year 2 under Kalen DeBoer, Alabama left Tallahassee with a lot of questions. Now, people are questioning if DeBoer is actually the right man for the job just one week into his second season.

Based on the schedule alone, Dinich claimed Alabama had a lot of ground to make up to get back into the CFP picture. Buckle up, because it could be a bumpy ride.

“I mean, look, it wasn’t just about the loss, it was how they lost,” Dinich said on Get Up. “Out-physicaled, outplayed up front, pushed around at the line of scrimmage. This wasn’t even the SEC schedule. They’ve got one of the top 11 toughest schedules in the country. I have them out of my top 12 right now.”

DeBoer referred to his team as “hesitant,” particularly early. The Crimson Tide trailed 17-7 at halftime and never fully recovered.

“Had some opportunities to get back in the game there,” DeBoer said postgame. “The name of the game is that we can’t be hesitant early on, OK. We got to start faster in all ways. Yes, I know we went down and scored first drive, pieced some plays together and found a way to put the end zone. But just the next couple series, both sides of the ball, we got to do a better job, we got to do a better job. 

Alabama out of current College Football Playoff picture

“And we had opportunities there in the second half, but we gave them life. We gave them life, we gave them hope and confidence in the first half there. And then what it does is it puts you in a spot where you got to be perfect. You’re playing from behind and you got to be perfect. And the stress on the guys to make every play becomes greater and greater.”

One game does not make a season, but the reactions certainly make it seem so. DeBoer chose the optimistic route after the game. Right now, Alabama is just thinking about the next game against Louisiana-Monroe, rather than the CFP.

“And I choose to believe we got a good football team, but we can’t play on our heels,” DeBoer said. “We’re not gonna be what we think we can be, what we want to be, if that’s the case. And so, again, that falls on everyone. I don’t just point the finger at the players. Gave the, I know the deep, both sides of the ball — I mean, you kind of know what you’re gonna see going into the game. But with new coordinators, but we talked in the locker room. 

“There’s no excuse about what happened. We step on the football field, they step on the football field, and we got to play ball, we got to play our style of ball.”