Alabama is certainly not used to this.
For the first time in the playoff era, Nick Saban's team is pressed against a fogged-up window and left out in the cold.
For only the third time in the past 11 seasons, Alabama enters the postseason unable to compete for a national championship. The Tide lost more than one regular-season game for the first time since 2010, which means that for just the third time in Saban's historic tenure, Bama isn't participating in a New Year's Six bowl game (instead facing No. 14 Michigan on Jan. 1 in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl).
"Losing two games at Bama feels like you lost six," an SEC assistant said.
That's the monster Saban has created at Alabama, which would consume most coaches. But Saban embraces it and has been known to halfway-joke about it. Hall of Fame coach Steve Spurrier shared an exchange he once had with Saban.
"I told him he won't retire until he loses three games in a season," Spurrier told ESPN. "He told me, 'If I ever lose three games around here again, they might kill me.'
"I think he was joking, but I'm not sure."
Alabama's 48-45 loss to Auburn in a bizarre Iron Bowl effectively eliminated the Tide from playoff contention. The defeat also set off a new round of proclamations that Saban's dynasty is over and the program has started to slip. The truth: Alabama won 10 games with two losses by a combined eight points, and did so after losing its best defensive player (linebacker Dylan Moses) before the season, and Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to a devastating hip injury two weeks before the Iron Bowl. If Tagovailoa had been healthy all season -- he played against LSU less than three weeks after tightrope ankle surgery -- perhaps Alabama would have kept its playoff streak alive.
But Alabama's failure -- by Saban's standards, this season certainly qualifies -- exposes some questions about the program: What happened to Alabama's signature defense? How has the constant turnover on Saban's staff impacted the team? What's next, given the uncertainty around Tagovailoa and a number of expected departures to the NFL? We surveyed coaches about Alabama and where the program goes from here.