In recent weeks Colin Cowherd and a few others have taken the time to attack Alabama’s resume and the SEC as a whole. Cowherd took to his radio show here to defend his position on why he does not even think Alabama should be in the playoffs. Watch the rant for yourself here…

Alright let’s take this argument apart piece by piece…

“SEC teams last year in bowls against ranked teams were 2-5”

Yes and it must have slipped Colin’s mind that they were 5-0 outside of that in bowls confirming the depth of the SEC. I would agree with Colin if he said the SEC at the top is not as strong as it used to be. The SEC at the top has been Bama and everyone else recently. Not since 2013 has the SEC had multiple elite teams at the top where Bama, Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M and LSU were all top ten teams. However, the depth has not changed. Just take a look at the SEC’s bowl record the past three years: 7-5, 7-3, and 6-3. The SEC remains the deepest and most difficult conference.

“Alabama got their arse kicked by Ohio State”

Am I missing something? The final score was Ohio State 42-35. Alabama had a 21-6 lead at one point. I think Colin may really need to go back and look at that game if he thinks it was a blowout.

“Florida is playing for the conference championship, would you think that conference is great”

Colin fails to bring up the fact that their starter got suspended for the year and haven’t been able to do anything offensively since. With Will Grier- 31 points per game, with Treon Harris- 18 points per game. Anybody that has watched Florida will tell you they are not the second best team in the SEC. You think Oklahoma would be able to produce without Baker Mayfield?

“Alabama has struggled with Arkansas, Tennessee and Auburn”

This perhaps is my favorite… Alabama beat Arkansas by 13 and Auburn by 16. Apparently beating a bowl eligible team by multiple scores is struggling. Not to mention he throws Tennessee who is 8-4 into the mix. I think I remember an Oklahoma team, who Colin ranks number 2, struggling with Tennessee. They even needed a comeback and double overtime to beat them. Tennessee is actually a top 25 team who has won 5 straight and only losses come against Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida (with Wiill Grier) and Arkansas. Yet Colin wants to make it sound like Tennessee is a bottom dweller. Ohio State beats Northern Illinois and Indiana, who is 2-6 in the Big 10, by 7 and Colin doesn’t even mention it. If we are taking about who struggles against bad teams the easy answer is Ohio State.

“What impressive win does Alabama have, look at the data”

Don’t worry Collin I did. Against the Playoff rankings top 25 Alabama (2-1) Ohio State (1-1). Alabama has had to play 9 Bowl Eligible Power 5 teams while Ohio State has had to play 5. Every SEC game Alabama has played has been against a team who is bowl eligible. Ohio State had to show up two times during the year and lost one. There is no argument in the world that Ohio State has had a tougher schedule than Alabama.

“Alabama has not faced a NFL quarterback this year”

Neither has Oklahoma. In fact three of Oklahoma’s top 25 wins came against backup quarterbacks. Ohio State has only faced one (Connor Cook didn’t play against Ohio State). To be honest I don’t know why this is part of his argument. Dak Prescott has had plenty of success as a college quarterback, but apparently that doesn’t matter. You know what Colin, no one in college has faced a NFL quarterback. They have all faced college quarterbacks.

“You want me to rely on your Arkansas, Kentuckys and your Vanderbilts”

1/3 Colin. Alabama only played one of those teams.

“The Pac-12 has 10 bowl eligible teams”

Yes and so does the SEC, with the entire SEC West being bowl eligible. What’s your point?

“The Big 10 1-5 is the best conference”

Colin actually has a debatable point here. Except not for the argument of Ohio State vs. Alabama because Ohio State only had to play 2 of those teams. Alabama will have played the top 10 SEC teams by the time the season is over. Last I check too, there were no conferences with only five teams. You are judged on your conference from top to bottom.

Bottom Line

Colin did not make a single point on why Ohio State’s resume is better than Alabama. Instead he decided to just take shots at Alabama’s resume. The only reason I heard in his rant that he picked Ohio State over Alabama was quarterback play. If that is the case I guess the final four should be Memphis, Cal, Michigan State and Oklahoma. Sure Alabama has a one man attack, but has anybody been able to stop it? Another factor that Colin fails to bring up is the Conference Championship which is a criteria that is used by the committee. Bottom line the only argument one could make is the subjective eye test. Every other test including Conference Championship and Strength of Schedule gives Alabama the clear edge over Ohio State.