Not poking here. Who has Bama played this year? Won't this be their first legitimate test?
Nobody of any substance really. And not to poke fun but Purdue proved that there's more to it than being a legitimate contender. To anyone who has watched them play and studied them there's no question about their offense or defense. The first string Qb hasn't played a 4th quarter all season, 50+ points on teams, playing the third string mid way through the third a lot of games. Etc. In OSUs case however, watching them play early season anyone who knows a thing or two about Xs and Os could see trouble was around the corner somewhere.
As for Bama, coming up they have LSU in death valley at night, the Iron bowl against Auburn which is never a slam dunk, likely GA in the SEC championship game, then whoever is in the playoff semifinals, and then the championship game. That's a mighty big ass hill to climb and a loss to any of them except maybe LSU will keep them out of the playoffs. They'll earn it before the season is up. Been an off year or two for the sec but one thing never fails is that there will always be 2-3 teams that would be difficult competition for almost anyone. Some years its LSU, some Auburn, for a bit it was Florida, for example where the hell did Georgia come from last year and this? Out of nowhere.