Danny Kanell, Damien Harris refuse to buy in on Alabama after win vs. Oklahoma in CFP

CBS Sports’ Danny Kanell and Damien Harris refused to buy in on Alabama after they beat Oklahoma 34-24 in the first round of the College Football Playoff. While it was a step in the right direction, they’re not ready to pick the Crimson Tide over No. 1 Indiana at the Rose Bowl.

“I think the Tide are a little bit of fools gold right now,” Kanell said. “I don’t think they’re fixed by any means, but I think a lot of people are going to buy into Alabama as a national championship contender because they went into Norman and they beat an opponent that they lost to earlier. 

“But if you dig a little bit deeper, I think Oklahoma’s defense was significantly overrated, and they beat a quarterback who on the season had 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. It’s going to be a much different task against Indiana for this Crimson Tide team. They still didn’t run the football rather well. They did come up with the defensive stops they needed, but Fernando Mendoza is not going to hand them pick sixes the way that John Mateer did.”

Harris, an Alabama alum who won two national titles with the Tide, saw too many inconsistencies with the team. Its going to depend on which Alabama team shows up in a little under two weeks.

“Well, I want to agree with Danny’s point,” Harris said. “I’m not ready to buy in all the way yet because of what Danny just said.  If Ryan Williams and Germie Bernard drop balls the way that they did last night, they’re not going to beat Indiana. If Alabama’s offense starts the way they did last or against Indiana the way they did last night, they’re not going to beat Indiana. If they don’t have more production in the run game, they’re not going to beat Indiana. 

“So although this was a big win for this team, and it should give them a lot of confidence, starting with the head coach, going all the way down the players, it should give them a ton of confidence, but they still have to realize we didn’t beat Georgia, we didn’t beat Ohio State. We did not beat Indiana. We beat John Mateer, who hasn’t been great, an Oklahoma defense that has been up and down to Danny’s point yesterday and today. And you have to be better if you want to accomplish the ultimate goal, which is winning a national championship.” 

That being said, Alabama can definitely compete with Indiana, despite the latter’s dominance this season. The Hoosiers went 13-0, won the Big Ten and have a Heisman winner at QB.

“Do I believe that they can play with Indiana? Absolutely,” Harris said. “We’ve seen spurts of Alabama where they do look like the best team in the country? It’s just so many times we’re asking, what version of this Alabama team are we going to get? Now, if we get the second half version of Alabama throughout the rest of the postseason, they’re going to make some hay, they’re going to make some people pay. But we have to see that game in and game out.”