Alabama will spend a second straight Saturday off the field. The SEC announced Tuesday that this week’s game between No. 1 Alabama and LSU will be postponed after the Tigers were unable to meet the SEC’s minimum requirement of 53 healthy players due to COVID-19.
While the game was not canceled, it’s unlikely the two teams will meet this season as LSU already had its Oct. 17 game at Florida postponed to Dec. 12, making it difficult to reschedule the game against Alabama. In all likelihood, this season will mark the first time the Crimson Tide and Tigers don’t play each other since 1963.
So what does that mean for Alabama? Here’s a look at some of the implications moving forward for the Crimson Tide
Alabama still controls its fate in SEC
With the matchup against LSU likely wiped out, Alabama has three remaining games on its regular-season schedule. The Crimson Tide (6-0) sits atop the SEC West as the conference’s only undefeated team and has already beaten second-place Texas A&M earlier this season. If Alabama wins its next three games — home against Kentucky and Auburn before a road trip to Arkansas — it will punch its ticket to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.
However, due to an uneven amount of games throughout the conference, complications could arise if the Tide loses one of its remaining matchups. Texas A&M had its game against Tennessee postponed this week due to COVID-19. Although unlike Alabama, the Aggies are able to reschedule the matchup for Dec. 12.
If Alabama was to lose one of its remaining games, and Texas A&M won out, the Aggies’ 9-1 record would be better than the Tide’s 8-1 mark. However, Alabama would hold the head-to-head win. The SEC has yet to announce how it will handle such a tiebreaker. Although, either way, there will likely be an unhappy party.
That being said, Alabama figures to be heavy favorites in each of its three remaining games, likely making this point moot.
National ranking could be affected
If Alabama wins its remaining regular-season games, it would enter the SEC Championship Game with a 9-0 record and would likely face a top 10 opponent in either Florida or Georgia with the potential to enter the College Football Playoff at 10-0.
Running down the list of other contenders, No. 2 Notre Dame has the best chance of usurping a potentially undefeated Alabama as the Irish could finish 12-0 if it wins the remainder of its games including the ACC title. The best No. 3 Ohio State could finish is 9-0, while No. 4 Clemson tops out at a potential 11-1. Meanwhile, an undefeated Pac-12 champion could only finish 8-0.
The College Football Playoff committee would certainly have a difficult decision to make between a 12-0 Notre Dame and a 10-0 Alabama, especially if the Irish knocks off Clemson twice in one season. Outside of that, an undefeated Tide would seem to have the edge over all other contenders.
Extra time off could be good for Alabama
Now that we have the hypotheticals out of the way, let’s take a look at how this time off could immediately affect Alabama.
Heading into last week’s open date, Nick Saban emphasized the importance of recovering from injuries as well as getting younger players more reps in practice. An additional week away from the field should allow the Tide to do both as it looks to recharge for the second half of its season.
Earlier this week, Saban announced that redshirt freshman running back Trey Sanders will be out indefinitely after sustaining injuries during a car accident last week. The former five-star recruit was Alabama’s third-leading rusher behind Najee Harris and Brian Robinson Jr. but looked to be turning the corner in recent weeks and was coming off a career-best 80 yards on 12 carries against Mississippi State.
While it’s likely Harris and Robinson will take on the bulk of the carries moving forward, Alabama also has confidence in a pair of true freshmen backs in Jase McClellan and Roydell Williams.
“Those two dudes have impressed me personally since fall camp because of the way they came in and just worked hard,” offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood said. “They take after Najee and B. Rob, two seniors on the team, and they’ve been working really hard just like everybody else.”
Alabama will also look to add depth at the receiver position after losing Jaylen Waddle to a season-ending ankle injury against Tennessee. Through six games, starters DeVonta Smith, John Metchie III and Slade Bolden are the only active Tide receivers to record receptions.
Individual accolades could be in jeopardy
Last week, we broke down several individual records Alabama players were on pace to break. Many of those could take a hit with the Tide set to lose a game on its schedule. In addition, Jones and Harris could both be affected as potential Heisman Trophy contenders as they’ll be sidelined while other players get the opportunity to make their cases for the award.
Jones holds a slim lead in several Heisman trackers, while Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields is hot on his heels. A matchup against an LSU defense that ranks No. 119 in the nation allowing 335.2 yards per game through the air would have certainly helped the Alabama quarterback add to his resume. The same could be said for Harris, who ran for 146 yards and a touchdown while adding 44 yards and another score through the air against the Tigers last season.
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