Alabama's playoff future in jeopardy after Vanderbilt loss, claims CFB Insider Joel Klatt

Vanderbilt shocked the college football world on Saturday when they defeated Alabama 40-35, handing the Crimson Tide their first loss of the season. At the time, the Crimson Tide was ranked first in the nation, but after the loss, they have fallen to seventh.

Although it is too early to panic, insider Joel Klatt believes the loss to the Commodores could lead to them missing the playoffs.

"What if told you before the year that Alabama was gonna beat Georgia, and then miss the playoffs? A week after they lose to Vanderbilt and then you look at the rest of that schedule, and you look at some of those other schedules, and it's like, hold on a second," Klatt said on his show.

"If Alabama doesn't clean up this defense, they could absolutely get beat two more times."

Alabama's schedule and defense could cause the Crimson Tide to miss the playoffs

On paper, one loss is not something that should be the difference between a team like Alabama making and missing the playoffs. However, when you look at the schedule, it becomes clear that it is not going to be easy.

Joel Klatt brought up that point:

"That is not an easy schedule. Imagine thinking this, you know, last Monday. If I told you like, by the way the undefeated number one team in the country, they're actually going to miss the playoffs. But look at their remaining games. Now that they've lost to Vanderbilt it changes your perspective completely."

The Crimson Tide play South Carolina on Saturday before starting a tough second half of the season. They face four ranked opponents on their schedule: No. 8 Tennessee, No. 21 Missouri, No. 13 LSU and No. 18 Oklahoma. Additionally, they close the season with the Iron Bowl, which is always competitive.

Another issue Joel Klatt brought up is the defense, which has not been stellar through the first half of the season.

"With defense being what it is, and as I suggested on Monday, it doesn't seem like that's going to get fixed any time soon because we've seen that now for four straight games for Alabama. The weakness is the defense," Klatt said.

The Crimson Tide have not struggled on offense, scoring 35 or more points in each of their five games. However, defense has become a major issue since their shutout victory over WKU in week one. They have let up 74 points in the last two weeks and lost one of those games, despite scoring 35.