Alabama’s College Football Playoff has not been majorly impacted by the loss of Tua Tagovailoa. When he suffered a season-ending injury in the first half of the Crimson Tide’s win over Mississippi State on Thursday, some speculated that the playoff selection committee would ignore Alabama due to the loss of their star player. However, the state held its No. 5 position in the playoff rankings and are still in the playoff race as the regular season comes to a close.
College Football Playoff committee chairman Rob Mullens has spoken out on the team’s reputation without Tagocailoa. He has said that the loss of a great player does not hamper the chances of the team at all, as Alabama victoriously cruised past the Bulldogs.
He said that the committee has kept an eye on the team and realizes that their quarterback has suffered an injury in the second quarter. They have watched all 60 minutes of the game and have evaluated the team on the basis of that. After all the drama, Alabama still had a convincing win, indicating what a great team they are.
Mullens also said that the playoff rankings are mostly reliant on the results and the performance of each team week by week. In case Alabama rolls over Auburn in the final game of the regular season, some playoff consideration will definitely come their way.
Mullens cleared up for the media that each week is started with a clean sheet. Each game and the data collected is analyzed and only then are the teams ranked based on the committee’s view of them once the performance has been analyzed.
Mullens has acknowledged that Tagovailoa’s injury has come up during discussions about Alabama. The committee has elected to allow the team to remain at their earlier position as they won a massive victory over Mississippi State. He said that the committee has had a keen eye on the way that the games and subsequent injuries have come about and this week, the Alabama team could clearly be seen leading their way to a victory.
This weekend, Alabama will be taking on Western Carolina. Their last chance to show the committee what they are made of will come one week from Saturday.
