ESPN analyst wonders if Alabama was a top team after all

Despite the fact that the worst playoff committee we’ve had yet ranked Alabama 13th in the final rankings while both human polls stuck them at ninth, advanced metrics had Alabama in the top four in the country all season. After watching LSU utterly dismantle the vaunted Brent Venables defense, it seems that at least one of the talking heads is coming around.

It’s fair to say that, David, and it’s also fair to wonder if Alabama could have beaten them with a healthy Mac Jones at quarterback. In fact, with a less than healthy Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama was the only team on LSU’s schedule to post a better yards per play average in the head to head matchup, with Alabama averaging 8.0 to LSU’s 7.1 per snap.

Alas, games are decided on points and the Tigers won the game. They deserve all of the accolades they have coming to them, and Alabama fans can look forward to next season when they will likely return a better squad than the Bayou Bengals. We have plenty of time to discuss that, though.

It’s just nice to see that the entire college football world hasn’t gone completely crazy.

Roll Tide.