The Peach Bowl Confirmed It: Alabama Might Not Be an NFL Team, But It's Certainly Not a College Team Either

It's no hot take to say that Washington is a very good college football team, with very good college football offense. That shouldn't be forgotten after this loss to Alabama in the College Football Playoff, because after all, that's the reason the Huskies made the Playoff in the first place.

The problem is that Alabama is an NFL team.

Okay, not literally. As much as we might hope, Alabama could not beat the Cleveland Browns. But this team is far too good to be playing college football. It has had the No. 1 recruiting class in the country in every year since 2011. It has the best coaches in the country, and an entire staff of 'analysts,' thanks to its—conservatively estimated—$100 million in football revenue each year.

Alabama's offense is young, and that's why it struggled at times with the Washington defense—one of the best defenses in the country—but the Crimson Tide defense showed why this team is unbeatable if it's playing its best, and might still even win some games when playing at its absolute worst. Defensive tackle Jonathan Allen is undoubtedly the best defensive player in the country. The secondary is also the best in the country (or at least second best behind Washington). The defense has a whopping 11 touchdowns this season. It has only allowed 16.

Here's what Alabama's defense did to Washington's offense today:

And it's not like Alabama was playing a bunch of pushovers. Washington quarterback Jake Browning and running back Myles Gaskin are two of the best players in the country, and they certainly have the best offense the Crimson Tide have played all year. But it didn't matter against Alabama, because Alabama is simply in a different league from everyone else.

Alabama DE Jonathan Allen on Washington: "They were soft. No disrespect, but we could have played better"
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) December 31, 2016

(And you know what? He's right—they probably could have. That's just how good they are)

Ohio State and Clemson both have the ability to beat Alabama in the national title game, but that's only going to happen if the Crimson Tide play dirt poor and their opponent plays completely out of their gourd. That's just how it goes with this program, which is consistently better, relative to its competition, than any program has been in the history of the sport.

Next year, Alabama will be just as good, if not better. Quarterback Jalen Hurts will be a sophomore, breakout running back Bo Scarborough will be back. The defense will have the best players in the country once again. We'll do this all over again, pretending that someone else could be the best team in the sport. Someone might beat the Crimson Tide, and someone else might even win the national championship, but that would be a fluke. This isn't a college football team, even though the competition is.