The Bulldogs lost to both, with Mississippi’s victory being considerably more convincing than the Crimson Tide’s. Those were two losses against quality teams for Georgia, but they were dominated at Oxford on Saturday. Kirby Smart’s team also picked up a nearly equally impressive road win against a Texas team that will likely be No. 3 in Tuesday’s standings.

Yet the Mississippi team that beat the Bulldogs, 28-10, also lost to a Kentucky team that is 3-6 overall and 1-6 in the SEC. Its other loss came at LSU, the Alabama team it beat by 29 on Saturday. The Crimson Tide has wins against four teams currently ranked in the AP poll, a loss to No. 6 Tennessee and another to Vanderbilt (6-4, 3-3 SEC).

The spectrum of eye tests, from those chaotic Alabama losses to the dominant 60 minutes played at LSU, is even wider than the smile on Jalen Milroe’s face Saturday night.

One week they are not only playoffs are good but contenders for the national title. A few weeks into the last of those cycles, it was a turnover disaster, stumbling through two losses sandwiched between a decisive victory over South Carolina.

This is clearly an Alabama team that rises to the occasion against playoff contenders in open weeks. The Tide didn’t maintain this level after the victory against the king of inconsistency Georgia, but this is the next and final test of this regular season sprint to the end.

Where Alabama stands in the mangled web of SEC championship game tiebreakers will be up to the genius they hire to untangle them, but he has to keep that momentum going. After visiting FCS foe Mercer on Saturday, the Crimson Tide can’t ignore the final two championship games against some basement brothers.

This is a team ready to face…

1. A road game at Oklahoma (5-5, 1-5 SEC)
2. A Thanksgiving Saturday visit from Auburn (3-6, 1-5 SEC)
3. Human nature

Taking Vanderbilt seriously enough was clearly a failure after maintaining his parental guard over Georgia, while October’s regression set Alabama up for this successful November.

He met the biggest challenge with brutality in Baton Rouge, but maintaining that against proud but wounded programs will be a test not only For eyes but of his guts.

Letting go after surviving a season-defining challenge is human nature.

A fourth-and-goal from 31 last year eased a near miss for Alabama in a similar review last November. The near-crisis miraculously resolved cannot be neglected a year later.

Because these are not playoff putts.

And if the roller coaster of consistency follows any pattern and precedent, Alabama will need more courage than two games against a combined 2-10 SEC record would indicate.

They will just have to approach this section with their eyes open.

Do that, and they are playoffs GOOD.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ParCasagrande or on Facebook.