Already in playoff mode since its stunning loss to FSU back in August, Alabama now ready for the real postseason

AUBURN, Ala. – Kalen DeBoer doesn’t feel the need to do any politicking.

As far as he’s concerned, his Alabama football team has punched its ticket to the College Football Playoff, and that’s regardless of what happens next Saturday in Atlanta when Alabama and Georgia meet (again) in the SEC championship game.

Being left out of the playoff “would blow my mind,” DeBoer said Saturday night following Alabama’s 27-20 victory over Auburn in yet another down-to-the-wire Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium. He was simply answering a question about his team’s postseason chances, but used words like “crazy” and “unreal” to describe any scenario where Alabama would not be selected for the playoff after watching from home a year ago.

This Iron Bowl might not have been as crazy as the past two on the Plains. There was no miraculous fourth-and-31 touchdown pass in the final seconds or a four-overtime affair, but Alabama did need a clutch 75-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes to break a 20-20 tie on Ty Simpson’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Horton on a fourth-and-2 play.

A field goal would have given Alabama the lead with just under four minutes to play after Simpson’s third-down pass fell incomplete, but DeBoer never hesitated. He immediately waved his hand for the offense to stay out on the field, and Simpson did what he’s done all season.

He made a play when his team needed it most, and with an opposing stadium bursting at its seams. His final scoring pass to Horton was perfectly placed and a statement of sorts.

“We didn’t even have to look to the sideline. That’s our mindset,” said Horton, who caught three touchdown passes. “We’re playing to win. We knew we were going to go for it. That’s who this team is. It didn’t start out the way any of us wanted this year with the Florida State game, but we never quit believing in who we are.”

Even though the 31-17 loss to FSU came all the way back on Aug. 30, the stench from that setback still resonates in some corners of the college football world. DeBoer gets it, and so do the players when the proverbial “How did Alabama lose to (5-7) Florida State?” is broached.

But as DeBoer pointed out, the Tide (No. 10 in the CFP rankings last week) are 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the SEC and beat three teams in the committee’s most recent rankings, including No. 4 Georgia on the road. They also won on the road at Missouri, which was nationally ranked at the time.

“We’ve got more than a playoff-caliber football team. There’s not a question in my mind,” said DeBoer, when pressed on the Tide’s credentials.

The newest rankings will be released Tuesday and then the final ones next Sunday after conference championship weekend. It will be the fifth time Alabama and Georgia have faced off in the SEC championship game, and the fourth time since 2018. The Crimson Tide have won 10 of the last 11 games in the series.

If Alabama wins for a second time this season over Georgia on Saturday and captures the SEC title, the Crimson Tide would almost certainly land a top-4 seed and receive a first-round bye. But a third loss this season could create a few sweaty palms in Tuscaloosa on Selection Sunday, although penalizing a team for a conference championship loss has traditionally not been high on the committee’s list of priorities.

But if we’ve learned anything about the playoff selection process, the goalposts tend to move.

What we’ve learned about this Alabama team is that it’s hardly perfect, anything but a dominant rushing team on offense and prone to self-inflicted mistakes at times.

But it’s also a team that has found ways to win even when it hasn’t played its best football and has continually made impactful plays at critical junctures in the game.

See Zabien Brown’s 99-yard interception return for a touchdown to end the first half against Tennessee. See the late touchdown drive and game-tying two-point conversion against South Carolina. See the way Alabama finished the game against Georgia and snapped the Bulldogs’ 33-game home winning streak. Remember, too, that was back in September when the wounds from the FSU loss were still very fresh among a restless fan base.

“I think it goes back to Week 1. … The character of this team really never wavered,” DeBoer said. “They dug in, and it’s been a grind for these guys because they really knew that it was a backs-to-the-wall type of journey.”

In a lot of ways, the playoff started for Alabama the week after the FSU loss. There was very little wiggle room the rest of the way, and even with the home loss to Oklahoma a few weeks ago, there’s been a one-and-done mentality that has permeated the locker room and should serve Alabama well now that the real postseason is here.

“I’m interested to really see what our team does here moving forward, playing with kind of a spirit about them,” DeBoer said. “Even with this celebration here (at Auburn), I mean, it’s exciting, but it’s very businesslike. It’s very … kind of stuck in this mode of where it’s like, ‘OK, we’ve got another one. We’ve got to go do it again,’ and they just keep doing it and it’s been that way in practice. They have never fallen off.”

Redshirt senior linebacker Deontae Lawson, who came back for another season after injuring his knee late last season, said everybody had questions after that first game against FSU.

Some hard questions for each other.

“To come into a season with so much confidence and then get knocked off, it kind of makes you question things,” Lawson said. “But this group came together. We knew we were unbreakable. That was our theme for the whole year. We knew we were a resilient bunch, and when it comes down to it, we’re going to find a way to win. That’s what we’ve been preaching.”

Even after Simpson’s touchdown pass, Alabama needed a big play from its defense to thwart an Auburn drive. The Tigers had it first-and-10 at the Alabama 27 when Ashton Daniels connected with Cam Coleman out wide, but Alabama safety Bray Hubbard punched the ball loose, and Lawson was there to recover with 33 seconds to play.

“We’ve got each other’s backs. We play for each other, and that’s the brotherhood on this team,” Lawson said.

Kane Wommack’s Alabama defense has been especially good in the fourth quarter since the FSU opener and came through again against an Auburn team that was able to hit some explosive plays. Auburn receiver Malcolm Simmons had 101 yards after the catch, but it was the fifth time in the last six games that Alabama’s defense didn’t allow more than 20 points.

Alabama came into the game ranked eighth nationally in total defense and 10^th in scoring defense.

“I mean, just to watch the transition from Florida State to now … it is unbelievable,” Lawson said. “And I’m talking about the way we practice. Even the (Catapult) numbers show it. We pull up the numbers every week of how hard we are practicing and it’s on a constant rise.”

For DeBoer, this is what he expected all along.

“They’ve stayed the course, they kept playing and kept getting better,” DeBoer said.

No better time than now to perfect that right formula.