Alabama vs. Kansas State: Sugar Bowl berth tastes bittersweet for Crimson Tide
No, it didn’t happen.
The miracle that many a folk in Tuscaloosa dreamt about on Saturday night did not become a reality on Sunday afternoon, when the College Football Playoff committee revealed the 4 teams that will be colliding for the sport’s national championship on New Year’s Eve.
Alabama was the Best of the Rest, as many predicted, finishing 5th in the final CFP rankings, the edition that is written in red pen with no eraser in sight. There are no more rankings now, no more games for Alabama to change its situation itself and no more games for others to trip over themselves so Bama can benefit.
That ship sailed this weekend. And even though the Crimson Tide got a couple of the breaks they seemingly and desperately needed — namely a loss by USC in the Pac 12 Championship Game and a loss by TCU in the Big 12 Championship Game — it wasn’t enough to nudge the 2-loss Tide into the Top 4.
Almost. But not quite.
USC’s blowout loss to Utah on Friday night got the Trojans out of Alabama’s way, so there was 1 big step from the Tide’s previous No. 6 ranking toward Playoff glory. But it merely got Bama to No. 5, and even though TCU fell in overtime to Kansas State on Saturday afternoon, the committee saluted the Horned Frogs’ 12-0 regular season and refused to give in to the “TCU would be a 10-point underdog to the Tide on a neutral field” chant coming mostly from the 205 and 659 area codes.
With Georgia and Michigan entrenched at No. 1 and 2 with their glossy 13-0 records and TCU staying at No. 3, it was Ohio State — and not Alabama — taking that 1 ultra-important step and taking that 1 coveted seat left at the Playoff table. Sure, the Buckeyes stumbled hard in their regular-season finale against rival Michigan at home, but their 11-1 regular season was better than Bama’s 10-2 season, in the record alone and in the particulars that the Playoff committee dives into to deliver a verdict.
We’ve been over it before, but we’ll say it a final time.
One field goal made here in Knoxville.
One defensive stop there in overtime in Baton Rouge.
Had Bama prevented either of those crushing road losses, it would’ve been playing on Saturday in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta, which would’ve given it an infinitely better chance of playing in 1 of those Playoff games on New Year’s Eve.
Where Bama is usually playing in the Nick Saban Era. This, incredibly, will be just the 2nd time the Tide have missed the Playoff since it was instituted in 2014. That’s 9 College Football Playoffs and 7 that included Saban’s program.
But not this time. The team that never quite was itself in 2022 was still just 1 or 2 plays and 1 single ranking from crashing the party. In the end, there will be no New Year’s Eve Playoff party in Tuscaloosa, or whichever site Alabama would’ve played at.
And the really cruel part is, Alabama will still be playing on New Year’s Eve, with 1 giant caveat. Kickoff will be at noon ET, not 4 p.m. or 8 p.m. like the Big 4 will have. Instead, Crimson Tide football — who carry those 2 losses like a scarlet letter along with the No. 5 ranking that is like coming in 4th in the Olympics and not getting a medal — will be a New Year’s Eve morning affair for the Tuscaloosa faithful, with an 11 a.m. CT kickoff against Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl.
We’ll use the word “cruel” again because it was a cruel, bittersweet day to be a Bama fan. And the 2 cruel ironies in facing the Wildcats and playing in the Sugar Bowl are that Alabama was rooting really hard for Kansas State just a day ago to beat TCU so it could slip into the Top 4, and the Wildcats came through, but it wasn’t enough.
And the 2nd cruel twist is that the Sugar Bowl, on this day in Alabama football history, is looked at with a frown and a groan, like a kid who doesn’t want to go to the dentist. Once upon a time, of course, the Sugar Bowl was the annual glamorous destination for SEC champions who were heading to New Orleans to celebrate their conference crown and possibly play for a national championship.
But those days are long gone, and this year happens to be 1 where the Sugar Bowl isn’t 1 of the Playoff semifinal sites.
Nope. This year, the Sugar Bowl is just a wonderful bowl game reward that doesn’t signify that you were the SEC champion and doesn’t signify that you are 1 of the 4 teams vying for college football’s top prize.
This isn’t what Alabama had in mind when it started fall camp in the vicious August Tuscaloosa heat. It never is. But most programs in America would give their right cleat to play in the Sugar Bowl and to play a tremendous opponent like No. 9 Kansas State, which went 9-3 before knocking off a TCU team that hadn’t lost and will be playing Michigan later that day.
Saban has the ultimate challenge now. He has to psyche his team up to play a game that is all about pride and not about a title, and he’s probably going to have to do it without the services of his star quarterback and star linebacker. We don’t know yet, of course, but we’ll probably find out soon that Bryce Young and Will Anderson Jr. will both sit out this game to not risk injury and not mess around with their lofty 2023 NFL Draft status.
In the video news conference that Saban held on Sunday in the aftermath of the Sugar Bowl announcement, Alabama’s head coach wasn’t giving any definitive answers — not yet.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to either one of those guys yet,” Saban said. “They participated in the workouts that we had last week. We’ll get an opportunity to talk to them at some point in time this week.”
And when Saban talks to the 2 of them at some point this week, we’re about 99 percent sure of what the answer will be.
No Bryce.
And no Will.
And a few other stars might be sitting, too, like maybe junior running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who had an incredible 1st season in Tuscaloosa after transferring from Georgia Tech and might want to err on the side of caution instead of risking injury.
If Young sits, as expected, what an opportunity this will be for freshman Jalen Milroe, who stepped in for Young in October when he went down with his shoulder injury and held the fort. The Sugar Bowl could very well be the beginning of the Jalen Milroe Era in Tuscaloosa, although Ty Simpson might have something to say about that.
If Anderson sits, as expected, it will give someone like sophomore linebacker Dallas Turner the spotlight to lead the Alabama defense against a fierce weapon like K-State running back Deuce Vaughn, who rushed for almost 1,500 yards this season for the Wildcats. Indeed, New Year’s Eve could be the start of Turner’s time as the Alpha Dog of the Alabama defense.
And if Gibbs sits, as some have mentioned, then maybe this is where junior Jase McClellan has his true breakout game. Or we can go deeper on the depth chart and point to fellow junior Roydell Williams or even freshman running back Jamarion Miller.
The same goes for Bama’s wide receivers room, which took a hit last week with Traeshon Holden announcing that he was entering the transfer portal. Holden’s loss might be someone else’s gain in New Orleans, like freshman Kobe Prentice or sophomore JoJo Earle.
You get the point here.
For Alabama, New Year’s Eve in New Orleans is hardly meaningless. People will be watching to see how well Saban can get his team up for a game with no Playoff attachment to it. Many will be interested in seeing if the Crimson Tide can succeed, and even more will be tuning in to see them fail.
Saban has got to be well aware of this.
He said on Sunday that his team needs to “bounce back” and “show they’re excited about the opportunity that we have to play against a top-notch team that’s a conference champion.”
Even on Sunday, mere moments after being picked to play in the regular old Sugar Bowl, Saban had already started the tricky motivational game. He was already coaching, long before preparations for the 1st all-time meeting between these programs had begun.
This is his challenge.
This is Alabama’s challenge.
Because there were no miracles in Tuscaloosa on Selection Sunday.
Only the cold reality that most everyone had to see coming.