See this is where we agree to disagree. If Bama is playing a soft schedule, does getting up for one game at the end constitute the best team? Im not saying SEC is a weak conference at all but this year, it was. At least the teams Bama was playing. There wasnt a top flight team on that schedule at all prior to GA and you can argue GA lost that game rather than Bama won it. LSU playing exactly one team in GA prior to playing Bama and getting blitzed. The SEC was really weak this year period.
So I cannot agree with the statement that Bama earned anything.
If you are a top team over the last ten flipping years, you shouldnt be able to schedule D2 teams and soft p5 teams. You just shouldnt. I do not buy for one minute that a CFB schedule takes five years to schedule where the pros schedule every singe year. That is just a cop out period.
Bama wants a weak schedule because it guarantees them top win/loss schedule and top marketing dollar because most fans cannot see past the year in year out W-L record. Tua gets heisman honors despite choking in the only challenge he faced all year while playing with the nations top athletes year in year out.
No my friend, Bama hasnt earned anything. Have them play a schedule with teams that are remotely comparative to them and see how they do when the injuries start piling up come post season.
I’ve actually made that same argument but that argument doesn’t gain much traction outside this board. It may not be fair and we may not like it but Bama can lose one game every year as long as Saban is here & Bama will still be in the CFP. I’m basing that on the fact that Bama coached by Saban has never really been blown out.
Even before this year’s SEC Champ Game, I made the case to my SEC friend:
So Bama (at that time) was widely regarded as an unbeatable behemoth that passed the eye test & the W/L test by beating every opponent handily & w/ little stress. So much so, their star QB rarely played in the 4th quarter. So if they are that great....and that unbeatable....shouldn’t they have zero excuse for losing to Georgia in the SEC Champ game? A UGA team that got rolled by 3 TDs by LSU?
Bama/SEC fans’ response is ALWAYS: “Are you saying they’re not still one of the best four teams?”
No, I’m saying if they’re as great as everyone claims, why should they be given a pass in a game that decides who the champion of their conference is? Why not just forfeit the game to rest the players b/c if you’re in the CFP despite a loss in the SEC Champ Game, why risk injuring your QB or other key players that are needed for the CFP? And it would help their “friends” (Georgia) also get in the CFP b/c they’d be a 1-loss SEC Champion.
Of course, it’s a moot point b/c Bama won in dramatic fashion (and some horrible play calling by Georgia). And yes, I’m being somewhat facetious to make a point. I suppose if there were four undefeated P5 teams, then a one loss Bama may get left out. Or if all the 1-loss teams won their conf championship & Bama had one loss w/o a conf champ, they could get left out. But until Saban steps down...that’s what you can expect.