Alabama Is Now a Definite Lock for College Football Playoff

With "Team Chaos" lurking in Week 11 and four of the top 10 teams in the College Football Playoff rankings going down, all Alabama did was take care of business.

Actually, it was more than that. 

It took care of business, posted a profit and earned huge dividends for stockholders who bought low.

The 31-6 win over Mississippi State might as well have been 310-6, after running back Derrick Henry ran over, around and through the Mississippi State defense and the Alabama front seven sacked Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott nine times.

"We're always pleased with a win, especially on the road. Mississippi State played a really good game," head coach Nick Saban said, according to Alabama's official site. "They have a really good team. Dak Prescott is a tough guy to defend. I know they gained a lot of yards today, but our defense did a really good job of not allowing a lot of points. We got them stopped inside the five (yard line) and a couple times in the red zone, which I think is important."

Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

This was the biggest hurdle left to clear between the Crimson Tide and a berth in the College Football Playoff, and they cleared it with ease. Saban's crew is now a lock for a berth in the second annual event.

The rushing attack led by Heisman Trophy contender Derrick Henry is fierce and getting better, and the defense is solid from front to back. And while Jake Coker isn't exactly Deshaun Watson out there, he has evolved into a very effective game manager who can make a difference when needed with stud wide receivers like Calvin Ridley and ArDarius Stewart.

Who's going to trip Alabama up?

Certainly not Charleston Southern this week, and the Iron Bowl at Auburn at the end of the year will look more like an SEC West victory lap than a battle between two intra-state rivals.

Is Auburn's defense playing better since the return of "Buck" Carl Lawson from a hip injury? Of course. But quarterback Jeremy Johnson regressed into the September version of himself in the 20-13 loss to Georgia, and the thought of Johnson—or banged-up redshirt freshman Sean White—going up against this Crimson Tide front seven feels more like a horror film than a football game.

As Kevin Scarbinsky of AL.com noted on Twitter, Auburn is trending down during the homestretch that features games against its two biggest rivals.

If Auburn is the victory lap, Florida might as well be the medal ceremony at the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 5.

South Carolina stopped Gators behind the line of scrimmage nine times on Saturday afternoon in Columbia—the best single-game mark of the season for a defense that doesn't exactly strike fear in the hearts of opposing offensive lines. The week before, Vanderbilt got into the Gators backfield six times and forced quarterback Treon Harris to move out of the pocket all game long.

And these guys are going to slow down Alabama's front seven in the biggest game of championship weekend?

That's not going to happen.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Sure, Florida has been banged up in the trenches down the stretch, but even when healthy, this is a matchup nightmare for first-year head coach Jim McElwain.

"The art of winning is hard," McElwain said in quotes released by South Carolina. "I don’t care who you are. Each one of you competed at one time in your life, and you understand how hard winning is and figuring out how to win. That’s what I like about our guys. There’s never any panic."

That's fine against the likes of Vanderbilt and South Carolina, but panic will set in when they square off against the Crimson Tide.

Just ask former Florida offensive coordinator and current Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen.

"I don’t know if they were doing anything special but just beating guys up there," Mullen said, according to the school's official site.

In 2015, "Team Chaos" is rapidly becoming the favorite to win the national championship. Its best shot at Alabama, though, was Saturday afternoon in Starkville, Mississippi. 

The college football world found out that, in the wild and crazy college football season, "Team Chaos" wants no part of playing big-boy football with Alabama—which is now a lock for the College Football Playoff.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report, as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.