ATLANTA – The first question asked of Kalen DeBoer, after No. 9 Alabama's disappointing 28-7 loss to No. 3 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, was about the College Football Playoff.
How do you make your case?
DeBoer talked about the game, about how it was a 14-point margin and Alabama had the ball midway through the fourth quarter. About how he didn't punt deep in his own territory to make the score look better because he was trying to win an SEC championship. About how he didn't kick a late field goal just to make the point differential better.
Then he got to the playoff portion of his answer.
"If this game applies to and takes away from our résumé, I don't think that's right," he said. "I really don't."
He didn't feel the Tide should backslide with an SEC Championship Game loss.
"I don't know how you can go into a conference playoff game, No. 1 seed, after we did all these things through the year, and this game, against one of the top teams in the country, how can that hurt you and keep you out of the playoffs?"
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DeBoer wasn't playing the victim, just defending his team. And after those four quarters, it needed defending.
Did Alabama look good? No.
Did Alabama look College Football Playoff worthy? Not really.
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Alabama's best win came against this very team in September, a 24-21 victory in Athens. Bama scored 24 in the first half and made the winning plays in the second to earn the victory.
On Saturday, it was clear these two teams are not playing like they were over two months ago. Georgia had gone 12 quarters without giving up a touchdown before Germie Bernard found the end zone with a 23-yard catch-and-run with 12:33 to play. The Bulldogs do what they need to do on offense, and they clearly will be a tough out in the CFP.
Alabama? Quarterback Ty Simpson no longer looks like the cool customer he did early in the season. He was hurried all afternoon, and his receivers were rarely open. In the third quarter, already down 21-0, he had a miscommunication with a running back on one play and then endured a false start by his right guard and right tackle on the next when he was trying to change the protection.
Alabama had two plays in Georgia territory in the first three quarters. On one of them, Simpson was picked off by Daylen Everette. It was that kind of day.
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Bama finished with 209 yards -- 212 passing, negative-3 rushing. The Tide were never within 10 points in the second half.
In its last four games, Bama is 2-2 with wins over an FCS team and Auburn. The arrow is not pointing up.
"Historically, every time a team has lost a championship game, they do drop," ESPN's Chris Fowler said on ABC's broadcast. "Sometimes just one (spot), sometimes more. You can expect Alabama to drop and get a little tenuous."
Palms will be sweaty in Tuscaloosa on Sunday morning. CFP committee chair Hunter Yurachek made it pretty clear the margin between Alabama and Notre Dame was razor thin last week. He said the debate had 'split the committee room'. He said, "Some are very much in Alabama's camp, some are very much in Notre Dame's camp." Alabama's 27-20 win at Auburn was superior enough to Notre Dame's 49-20 win at Stanford to move Alabama from No. 10 to No. 9 and put the Irish as the last at-large team in the field at No. 10.
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The only action on the Notre Dame resume this week was Boise State, a team ND beat 28-7, winning the Mountain West Conference title game on Friday night. Are we in for a reverse leapfrog from the split committee? Does Alabama have to worry about Miami?
The pro-SEC crowd will tell you it would be ridiculous for the SEC runner-up not to earn an at-large, and most years that would be true. But remember, Alabama was in a four-way tie for first, and, unlike most SEC powers, has an ugly non-conference resume point from Week 1's 31-17 loss to 5-7 Florida State.
Sunday's narrative is clear. Three teams, two spots. Either Alabama, Miami or Notre Dame will be the first one out. Last year, Alabama was the first team out at 9-3. There is a chance it happens again.
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