What Alabama football thinks Vanderbilt's loss means for CFP and SEC championship hopes

Tyler Booker knew he was in his sights after Alabama football's loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday. How he reacted, he said, was also the reaction of the team, which lost 40-35 to a Commodores team that the Crimson Tide hadn't lost to since 1984.

“If I put my head down, everyone else will put their head down,” Booker said.

Booker had the opportunity to tell the story for Alabama's upcoming home game against South Carolina, upcoming road games with Tennessee, LSU and Oklahoma, and the Crimson Tide's postseason future.

Booker's message? One that continues to revolve around the goals set in preseason. Nothing has changed.

“The message in the locker room is just to stick together and keep playing football,” Booker said. “There is still a lot of football left. There is still a lot of football left for this football team. So we just have to make sure we continue to stay together and play together.”

Nothing is decided in the SEC.

As Alabama completed its five-point loss to Vanderbilt, rival Tennessee began a surprising loss to Arkansas in Fayetteville. Before Alabama kicked off, Texas A&M made it into the top 10 of Missouri.

In the SEC, one program remains undefeated overall: Texas, which has regular-season meetings with Oklahoma, Georgia and Texas A&M.

Overall, the introduction of the 12-team College Football Playoff leaves undefeated teams like Texas, Ohio State and Oregon at the top, but the top 25 of the US LBM Coaches Poll is already littered with teams with one loss and more are in the race.

After Alabama's first loss of 2024, quarterback Jalen Milroe urged the same narrative offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan urged all season: that every game played should be better than the last, that every game should be a learning opportunity.

“We just have to learn,” Milroe said. “We just have to grow. Just take it day by day.”

This is the story of Alabama football as it continues to evolve, thanks in part to players like Booker. And a loss next to the Crimson Tide's name doesn't change that.

“This is it, one game at a time,” Booker said. “We have to win every week. We have to be 1-0 every week. This week we didn't get 1-0 so we'll continue to learn from it and look forward to working on getting 1-0 this week.”

Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at[email protected] or follow him@_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared in the Tuscaloosa News: What Alabama football thinks Vanderbilt's loss means for CFP and SEC championship hopes