3 Reasons to Bet Against Alabama in College Football Playoffs

If you’ve been following the 2017 college football season and you’re looking for reasons why you should bet against the perennially powerful Alabama Crimson Tide once the 2017-18 College Football Playoffs get underway on January 1, 2018, then you don’t have to look far! I’ve got three great reasons why you should bet against the Crimson Tide’s College Football Championship odds once the postseason gets underway. Now, let’s find out what they are!

3 Reasons to Bet Against Alabama in College Football Playoffs

QB Power Rankings

1. Baker Mayfield-@OU_Football 2. Lamar Jackson-@UofLFootball 3. Sam Darnold-@USC_Athletics 4-10: https://t.co/VlfxHFwRSQ pic.twitter.com/q0VqYexfFy — CollegeFootball 24/7 (@NFL_CFB) 8 de noviembre de 2017

College Football Playoffs at the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual

• When: Monday, Jan. 1, 2018 5 p.m. (ESPN)
• Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

College Football Playoffs at the Allstate Sugar Bowl

• When: Monday, Jan. 1, 2018 8:45 p.m. (ESPN)
• Where: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans

Playoff Picture – Week 11 (Top 10)

• 1-Georgia
• 2-Alabama
• 3-Notre Dame
• 4-Clemson
• 5-Oklahoma
• 6-TCU
• 7-Miami
• 8-Wisconsin
• 9-Washington
• 10-Auburn

NCAAF Week 11 Odds & Betting Pick: Georgia vs. Auburn

Alabama Records (November 8th)

• All: 9-0
• Home: 7-0
• Away: 2-0
• ATS: 4-5
• Over/Under: 4-5

Their Passing Attack

Okay, while I love dual-threat signal-caller Jalen Hurts and I’ve gone on record several times to say how I genuinely believe he’s the best quarterback that Nick Saban has ever had during his tenure at Alabama, I’ve also got to be honest and say that, I’d be a bit worried if Alabama was ever forced to play catch-up against an elite opponent, like, second-ranked Georgia for instance. I know Hurts has completed a solid 60.6 percent of his passes for 1,406 yards with 10 touchdowns and just one interception this season, but again, it’s not like he’s the kind of quarterback that can lead the Tide to a comeback featuring a passing attack. And that’s not to say that Hurts can’t throw the ball, it’s just that Saban rarely has to play from behind and doesn’t have an offense set up to throw the ball as a priority. Alabama is ranked a respectable 87th in passing by averaging 199.0 passing yards per game, but if they ever trail a team like the Bulldogs or some offensively-explosive team with a high-powered passing attack like Oklahoma, they could be in trouble!

Extra Motivation From Opponents

While it’s true you’ve got to look very hard for reasons to bet against Alabama, the fact of the matter is that one good reason is that their opponents have some added motivation to beat the perennial title contenders. Georgia will have some extra motivation as Kirby Smart goes up against his tutor to show that the student is now better than the master. The Dawgs would love to show everyone that their defense is now superior to Alabama’s. Teams like Notre Dame and Oklahoma would love nothing better than to hang 40points on the Crimson Tide and their vaunted defense and Clemson will be motivated by the opportunity to dispatch Alabama for the second straight year in the College Football Playoffs. I know you could say that every team every week has extra motivation against Alabama and it generally doesn’t work out very well for them but come playoff time, there will only be four elite teams remaining and three that are highly motivated to beat the Tide!

The Blueprint

If you didn’t know before, Alabama head coach Nick Saban talked about the perfect blueprint to beat his team at this year’s SEC Media Days. “To be honest with you, we had to bring people in when we played that game to try to teach us the offense so we could teach our players, you know, how to play against it. And obviously, the way we played against it was not very good. So if we ever play against it again, we’re going to have to do more research,” Saban said. While Saban says his team has difficulty in playing against the triple option, I believe the blueprint is a bit simpler and a little more different than that. First, you need a mobile dual-threat quarterback, but not just anyone. In order to beat Saban’s Crimson Tide, you need a quarterback that is as good in the pocket as he is outside of it. You also need some semblance of a rushing attack, if for no other reason, than to keep Alabama’s defensive players a bit honest from going into all-out attack mode on the quarterback. The next thing you need is a powerful defense that features both, quality and depth along the front seven. In essences, you need to have a team just like the Clemson Tigers have had the last two seasons. Of course, it’s a lot harder to find a quarterback as good as Deshaun Watson (as the Houston Texans are finding out) and the quality and depth the Tigers had on the defensive side of the ball with their front seven, but there is definitely a blueprint to beat Alabama!