Joel Klatt identifies Alabama as CFP sleeper, explains why

After missing the College Football Playoff last season, Alabama already finds itself with one loss and facing an uphill battle to get there this year. However, FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt believes the Crimson Tide have managed to turn things around in the past few weeks and are deserving of more attention than they’re currently getting.

On The Joel Klatt Show, he pointed to how quickly everyone “wrote off” Alabama following its loss to Texas and struggles against South Florida. Over the past three weeks, though, the Tide have managed to win games using multiple different styles of offense, leaning on the run against Ole Miss and the pass as Jalen Milroe threw three touchdowns to beat Texas A&M last week.

Klatt pointed to the adaptability of Nick Saban as the first reason why he considers Alabama a “sleeper” to make the Playoff.

“The way that they played in two weeks during September, everyone wrote ’em off,” he said. “You can roll your eyes if you want, but Alabama at this point is gonna be in my sleeper teams because of the fact I just mentioned. Texas beats them, they play terrible against South Florida and everyone’s like, ‘well, they’re not gonna go to the Playoff.’ Now you look up. They’ve found a bit of a rhythm. They’ve won games now with two starkly different styles.

“Watch out. It’s not a great division. We know that. But one thing I do know is that Nick Saban will find a way to win. He’s one of the only head coaches that I can remember in this sport that has won national won national championships with multiple different styles, multiple different assistant coaching staffs, multiple different recruiting cycles. This guy understands how to coach the games. He’s out there to win.”

It might seem odd to name Alabama a sleeper given its success over the past several years. The Crimson Tide have won six national championships under Saban with nine appearances in the title game.

However, they’re currently ranked just No. 11 in the AP poll and have been outside of the top 10 ever since that Week 2 loss to Texas. Klatt admits there are still questions offensively, but Alabama has played elite defense, ranking second in the SEC and 14th in the country with 15.2 points allowed per game.

“Fourth straight week they’re outside of the top 10,” Klatt said. “No one believes in this team because they don’t have a high ceiling. They don’t have that quarterback they’ve had the last five years. The offense is a concern. They’re ninth in the SEC in scoring. But to me, games like last week are not where they’re gonna find a lot of success. Against A&M, they didn’t run it very well and they’re gonna need to run it well down the stretch. Because Milroe is still not the quarterback that you can just leave out there on an island and say, ‘OK, buddy, we’re not gonna give you the play action. You just have to win it with your arm.’

“I just don’t think that’s gonna be a winning formula for Alabama moving forward. …The defense has played well and this is one of the marks of why I like Bama is because they’re gonna be in every game. They’re second in the SEC in scoring behind Georgia and basically they can win out, beat Georgia and they’re in.”

Klatt reveals which game could spoil Alabama’s Playoff hopes

Looking at the remaining games on Alabama’s schedule, Klatt believes all of them are winnable. However, he’s keeping an eye on a Week 10 matchup against LSU as being a potential spoiler to the Crimson Tide’s Playoff hopes.

The Tigers have to this point been the SEC’s top scoring offense with an average of 44.8 points per game. With a dynamic playmaker like Jayden Daniels at quarterback, it will come down to not only the Alabama defense to get stops, but the offense to keep up the pace.

If Alabama wins that game, then beats Georgia in the SEC title game, there’s no question it would get in the Playoff.

“Even with a loss, this Bama team, they’re going if they win out,” Klatt said. “That would be a win over Georgia, a win over LSU. So then it becomes basically the LSU game. You look at what they’ve got remaining on their schedule. They’ve got Arkansas, Tennessee, an off week, LSU, Kentucky, Chattanooga and Auburn. To me, none of those teams scare me with the way that they’re playing right now and the way they’re built this year except for LSU.

“LSU is not gonna stop Alabama. But, with a limited offense, can they go score 45 or more in order to beat LSU? Because LSU might score 45. That’s the only one that makes me nervous for Alabama because of the style of game they’re gonna have to play in order to win. I don’t know if they can hold them under 40 points even with a really good defense, and Bama’s defense is really good. …Daniels is playing at such a high level. That one’s gonna be nerve-wracking for Tide fans.”