Fiutak: Alabama Still Has National Championship Potential

Pete, how are you? Well, it goes by fast and we got teams that have 9-0 records.

That's how fast things have pretty much gone. Oregon, Miami, Indiana, BYU, and then we got Army, man. Obviously, Oregon is number one at the top of the heap in the rankings and just period in the country. But what are your thoughts about the other 9-0 teams? Specifically, Miami and Indiana?

Well, the step one is you got to look at their schedules. Like, who'd you beat? Did you play anyone good?

And I know everyone's like, well, nobody plays anybody and there's that kind of thing. But did you play in Ohio State yet? Did you beat an Oregon? Did you beat a Texas? Did you beat a Georgia or an Alabama? Or what are the real true powerhouses of the bunch?

Or have you beaten nobody? Which is basically Army. Like, look, your Army, it's great.

It's a great story. I hope they keep playing. But you look at their schedule, not a lot of meat on that bone outside of Notre Dame coming up. Now, if they're in a position, if they beat Notre Dame, then this whole thing changes. Indiana has never had a 10-0 season and a 10-1 season in its history. So, who cares? Like, if your schedule's not great, you're 9-0.

This is awesome. This is such a big deal for Indiana fans because there's just no football culture there. And now in one year under Curt Cignetti, all right, their biggest win's what, Michigan State?

Okay, great, whatever. But they got Michigan coming up. They got Ohio State coming up. They get a chance to prove themselves.

That's a whole lot of fun. But are they really going to challenge for the national title? No. Miami's kind of the wild card here a little bit because there's a whole lot of flaws. They should have lost to Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech got hosed on the Hail Mary call. They need a little bit to get past Cal.

They need a big call wait to get through that. But they kind of keep on winning, and that offense keeps on playing well. So, now it's looking like they're going to probably be the best team out of the ACC. And let's see what they can do. But at the end of all this, really, honestly, it's Georgia and Ohio State. I mean, those are the two best teams, and they're just not playing like it. But once they get there in the playoff and you get playoff Georgia, then look out. Pete Futek is joining us from collegefootballnews.com. When you take a look at the Bulldogs and some of their victories, even most recently, they're having to fight and claw and scratch back.

People were talking about Carson Beck potentially being in the Heisman from even before the season started. What do they need to do to turn things on? Because obviously they don't have the same talent that they've had over the past few years, and they're having to fight a little bit harder here. They need January. They do have the talent.

That's the weird part about this. They got the talent. They have the depth. They've got the coaching. It's almost like they're one of those NBA teams who you know is really good. It's like the Warriors a few years ago where they know they're good. They're getting through the season.

It's mid-December, and they're just sort of going through the motions. They just want to get in the playoffs as a five seed or something, and then it's game on. That seems kind of like what it is with Georgia.

Now the problem with that is if they lose again, it gets a little dicey for them. But for Georgia, they've got it. You see what happens when, like you said, they had to scratch and claw because Florida's actually pretty good.

Rivalry game every Saturday, all that kind of stuff. But the thing is when they had to turn it up a notch and they had to fully focus, then you see, okay, there it is. That's Georgia. Like the second half against Alabama. It's kind of like, okay, they need to be more consistent. They have to kind of relax a little more. They were playing really tight as is Ohio State.

They've just got to play a little bit looser and just kind of like put together a good solid 60 minutes and start being that dominant team because we know once the lights are really on, we're going to see what this team can do. Well, Pete, we talk about, or you mentioned Ohio State. We know their only loss is to Oregon. What did you see over the weekend against Penn State or just the whole season that makes you say, hey, these are the two teams that we're going to probably see here at the end?

Oh, they're so good. I mean, the talent is so ridiculous. I mean, they're hurt on the offensive line, but then their next man up for Ohio State is still pretty good and that offensive line starts to bash away on the Penn State defensive front. Now, the offense needs to be a little smoother.

The passing game could stand to be a little bit nastier, but look, the stats still hold. Ever since they lost that classic college football playoff semifinal a couple years ago at the end of 2022, that team has given up more than 17 points twice in the last year and a half of football since the beginning of 2023. If you have 17 points twice, once was the national championship Michigan, and even then they almost won that game. And the other time was to Oregon this year and they almost won that game. So this defense has just been a killer. They only gave up six to Penn State who didn't show a whole lot of punch, but Penn State's really good and they just kind of turned it again when they had to.

That defense turned it on with a pick at the goal line and a stand at the goal line and they just seem to have the type of defense that can pretty much stuff just about everybody. Pete, a few seconds joining us from collegefootballnews.com. When you think about some of the teams that would typically be here at the top of the rankings and the standings dealing with some coaching transitions like Alabama and Michigan, with the current state of college football and the transfer portal and NIL and what have you, how difficult is it going to be for these teams to kind of get back into the loop? Is it just, hey, we got a quarterback and everybody else follows suit or is this going to take multiple years for them to kind of get back to being on top?

Yeah, you always have to give a year of transition to let the new coach kind of settle in. But it also kind of goes to show in this world of, you know, what they're screaming this week on Penn State, James Franklin can't beat the big time team. Well, OK, but the guy is one of like five coaches who has been in his current spot since at least 2021 who wins 70 percent of his games. OK, so, you know, we can't beat the top five teams, but he's beating everyone else. And that's not good enough for everyone because everyone wants national championships. But it just goes to show how hard it is to win college football games because you can't lose in college football. It's not like, you know, the NFL, you have a bad week, you know, big deal. By Wednesday it's over and you're on to Cincinnati. It is. You've got to just kind of win everything and be perfect doing it every single week if you're one of these, you know, super power programs.

And it's hard. Florida's a superpower program. They're not going to go to a bowl game this year. Nebraska used to be a superpower program. Texas is a superpower program. It's just sort of getting back into it.

It's really, really hard. So if you've got a coach who keeps winning, you stay with them because, look, you know, sometimes these guys are just that good. Nick Saban, he was Nick Saban for a reason. Jim Harbaugh, he's Jim Harbaugh for a reason.

The guys who are the elite of the elite, hard to kind of keep that whole thing going. Well, let me ask you about another team that that's kind of fallen off. They fell off big this week in the rankings, and that's Clemson led by Dabo Swinney.

He's been slow to kind of quote unquote pay for players, and now he might be paying for it. They just lost to Louisville. How do they turn things around? Yeah, that's a rough one. Well, again, that goes to who'd you play? And they were throttling everyone after they got destroyed by Georgia to open the season. But they've only beaten one team so far that might go bowling, and that's an NC State team that's really struggling.

That's going to have to fight to get to six and six. You know, so they didn't actually play a great schedule. They beat up a bunch of bad teams, but not a bad thing, necessarily, because, one, if you've got a bad schedule, then all right, rip those teams up.

Clemson did that, and it lets you tune everything up, and they were supposed to do that, and then they get exposed by Louisville. So you're right. I mean, it's an adapt or die thing where there's something to be said for the way that Dabo does this and say, hey, look, come here, play for us. You don't have to be looking over your shoulder.

You're part of the family. Don't keep worrying about your job. It's our job to work you through your problems and train you.

There's something to that that should, in theory, work. There's also something to the fact that that team has been a deep threat receiver and one extra shutdown corner away from being college football playoff worthy over the last couple years, and they just don't go out and do that. So, you know, if you're not going to play ball like that, well, then you're going to be struggling with the also-rans, but they're still really good. They're just not going to be the elite because they just aren't getting the guys that these other teams are.

Well, Pete, let me ask you this. We know the teams that sit atop of the rankings. We know the teams that are likely to be sitting at the top of the top 12. What team do you think doesn't get the attention that is a legitimate contender to knock off a Georgia or the Ohio State? Like, who really has the next chance?

What's that next tier look like? Unless there's a real outlier where the Georgia or Ohio State loses, or Oregon too, for that matter, because they're really good, it's going to take just a complete meltdown for one of them to biff and have a TCU sort of thing. I don't know if everyone's sleeping on Notre Dame, but they're good.

They're not deep, which is the problem. They're all banged up on the line and secondary, but that is just a very, very strong team that can get in and do some damage, where if they got at least to the national championship game, it wouldn't be that much of a shock. I still think Alabama's got something there. You brought them up, and obviously there's something a little bit missing there compared to, you know, they're a little more like they were a couple years ago than last year, but the talent's still there. Kalen DeBoer is still an amazing head coach. I know he's getting knocked because you don't move to Vanderbilt and everything's going well if you're Alabama, but that's one of those teams that I think has been completely blown off. But that's also one of those teams that you do not want to see in that playoff because they've got the talent. It just kind of has to all click for them. And, you know, like we talked about at the very beginning, you know, the end of the season's coming up fast in that rearview mirror.

You've got to kind of speed it up a little bit, but they've got the talent to be really good, too. Okay. Well, you made a couple of folks in Tuscaloosa happy.

We'll see what happens. I can't make them better. I wish I could. You know, I like the Red Elephant Club down there.

They're fun. But if I had that power, I would love to harness it. Okay. Pete, where can people follow you in all of your work, following all the college all across the country? Here we go. It's, you know, the worst timed thing ever is the first college football playoff rankings come out tomorrow night. It's not like the focus won't be on anything else. But that's what it's all about now. It's all about the college football playoff rankings. And now it's surreal. Now we get to really see how this is all starting to shape up and it's finishing kick.

And we're all college football playoff all the time on College Football News. Thank you so much, Pete. We'll catch you on down the line, okay? Anytime. Have a good night.