Kalen DeBoer knows the situation Alabama is in when it comes to the College Football Playoff: they are the last team in.
That’s how it stands right now. The Crimson Tide will have to await what happens in the conference championship games to have the clearest picture of the rankings.
But for now, DeBoer is preparing Alabama for a playoff run to a national title.
“It’s a hard decision that I understand the committee has to make, totally get it, you know, trying to balance everything,” DeBoer said on The College GameDay Podcast. “There’s so many really good teams in the in the country, you know, not just at the top, but throughout so, you know, you don’t know how it’s going to come out. But you know certainly pleased and understand, I guess, you know selfishly, and you know from our end, you know where we feel we belong and feeling that we’re one of those teams that certainly should be in the playoff.
“A little biased, of course, but just also stepping back and having just some perspective, you know with our kind of season that we had, and the teams we play, the wins we had in particular, you know, I just really feel like we belong there, and we have that type of team that can can go the distance given this opportunity.”
DeBoer’s doubled down since the rankings were revealed on Tuesday, the penultimate ones anyway.
“I know, from within? You know, we’re speaking, you know, in terms of, you know, that we’re one of the twelve best teams the way we see it,” DeBoer said. “That’s not egotistical, that’s nothing arrogant. That’s not the way I’m talking. But we understand who we are, you know.”
However, DeBeor understands that, at the moment, Alabama is on the bubble. That leaves them in a position where he has to be honest with his team about where they may stand with the committee at the end of this on Sunday.
“Yeah, well, I mean, I think we’ve gotten to the point now, again, kind of going with the culture and everything you were talking about? It’s gotten to the point where we can be really up-front and straightforward,” DeBoer said. “You know, I expressed to them that, hey, there’s a committee that’s got some tough decisions and we all get that. There’s so many great teams in college football.”
