Imagine if you will, a College Football Playoff that doesn’t include Alabama. The Crimson Tide made the field eight times from 2014-23 and won three championships under Nick Saban. But if quarterback Jalen Milroe plays the rest of the season like he did against Tennessee, the Tide will watch the CFP on a Tuscaloosa big-screen television.
Standing at 5-2, the Tide has the following games remaining: Missouri, at LSU, Mercer, at Oklahoma, and Auburn. If Milroe gets anywhere near his danger-zone effort against Tennessee — 25 of 45 with one touchdown and two interceptions combined with 14 rushes for 11 yards and no scores — ‘Bama could lose to Missouri and LSU. And it’s possible losing either of those games would drop the Tide out of the CFP committee’s picture.
Is Jalen Milroe healthy?
That question got answered by Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer. And he said Milroe can’t hang his recent performances on injury, according to BamaOnLine’s YouTube page.
“At this point in the year, I don’t think there’s many guys who play a lot of snaps who don’t have something and (are) just working through it,” DeBoer said. “But he’s more than capable. And as he goes through the week, you‘re just ready to play on Saturday. There‘s nothing that’s going to be holding him back from going out there and being able to help us get a win. I’m confident of that.”
So the injury excuse goes out the window. The only blame not belonging to Milroe for his highly inaccurate effort could be the defense he faced. Tennessee’s unit is stout, perhaps one of the better ones in the country. It’s tough to move the ball against the Volunteers.
But the same can’t be said for South Carolina. Over the last two games, Milroe has completed 41 of 68 passes for 448 yards and two touchdowns to four interceptions. In his last four games, Milroe has thrown six interceptions. That matches the total he threw in 2023.
Also in the forefront is decision-making. Milroe’s pick in the end zone against Tennessee drew this description by ABC announcer Sean McDonough, “Terrible interception thrown by Milroe!”
It can’t be characterized just as a bad throw, though it certainly was. It can also be viewed as a bad decision, given the prowess of the defender, Jermod McCoy, on that side of the field. And the fact Milroe’s receiver didn’t get open. Plus, it was only second down. At the three-yard line. With a chance to take UT’s fans out of the game at least for a while. There’s no sugar coating it.
Throughout the game, Milroe didn’t stand up against the pressure of UT’s defense — or perhaps the noise of Neyland Stadium. Will the humbling lesson delivered by UT cause Milroe to struggle even at home against Missouri? And what will he do against LSU on the road.
Milroe took the blame, and that’s good
“I’ve gotta take full ownership of that,” Milroe said. “When it comes to communication up front, communication to the guys around, I’ve gotta do better on my end, playing with better detail. Communication up front and allowing our guys to line up properly with the communication. So that’s something that going back, we’re just gonna build on and get better at and something that I acknowledge as we were playing. So it’s all about building, it’s all about rebuilding and also where we were not at our best today.”