Alabama football was heavily favored and had every advantage in the ReliaQuest Bowl, and still flopped in a turnover-filled loss to Michigan.

We heard it for more than twostraight weeks, from the day that the College Football Playoff field was set, through the first round of games, and all through this past week. Alabama should have been in the playoff instead of SMU.

Alabama went into the ReliaQuest Bowl as 16.5-point favorites over Michigan on Tuesday. But three early turnovers proved to be too big for the Crimson Tide as t