1. They didn't win their conference championship.
2. Even worse, they didn't even play in the SEC championship game ... because they didn't even win their own division within the SEC.
If Alabama's only loss is to Georgia in the SEC championship game, they have a much stronger case for a playoff spot than any other one-loss team in the NCAA.
This is why conference championship games make no sense when the NCAA has a playoff for the national championship -- unless the conference championship games are the first round of the playoffs and there are no at-large playoff invitations at all.
NCAA Div II football has a 24-team playoff system... and Div III has 32 teams in their playoff. Odd how the big schools cannot figure it out.
In my opinion, there should be at least an 8-team playoff... the 5 major conference champions, the top non-big-5 champion, and THEN the top-2 remaining schools. Under that rubric, this year would likely see Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Washington as the 5 champions... add in UCF as the non-5 champion... Notre Dame is clearly the top non-champion.... and finally throw Georgia, Michigan or Florida as the last one in, and the only minor debate left to have (so that Alabama can lose the SEC game and still get in, of course). Or, scrap the debate, and take two non-5 champions, and get #22 Boise St in the mix.
EVERY school now has a chance at the playoff, no matter how small, or what their conference. Every game has meaning, every conference championship has meaning, and every fan base can legitimately dream... and six or seven of the top 8 teams are likely in the playoff just about every year, as they would this year.