It's the Monday after the Iron Bowl, and Nick Saban won't be meeting with the media to discuss how top-ranked Alabama won the SEC West and will compete for the conference championship for a fourth season in a row.

There won't be any talk of rat poison in Tuscaloosa. Nor will there be any brushing off of the rankings as meaningless. There won't be a rant of any kind from Saban.

When the next College Football Playoff rankings are released Tuesday, Alabama won't be on top anymore, let alone in the top four. Auburn saw to that, giving its rival a rare and unwanted weekend off in early December.

Saban's once unstoppable machine has suddenly ground to a halt, thanks to Saturday's 26-14 loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl. An SEC title is out of reach. Saban and the Tide are in the unusual position of being forced to sit by the phone, waiting for a call from the playoff committee that might never come.

That was not what anyone had in mind only a few weeks ago when Alabama was beating up on the SEC. The Tide had the highest point differential in college football entering Saturday -- a ridiculous plus-343 -- and it wasn't close.

We were running out of ways to describe Alabama's dominance. Jalen Hurts was a boringly efficient quarterback, Damien Harris was the best 11-touchdown back you'd never heard of, and the defense was absolutely suffocating. It was peak Alabama.

But looking back now -- with a week off, that's all there is to do -- maybe we should have seen this coming. Injuries had piled up, especially on defense, and three months of breezing through the schedule left Alabama unprepared for the pressure-packed situation that awaited this weekend at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

If you watched Alabama from start to finish against Auburn, you knew something was off. The playcalling was all over the place, and players were tight. Whether it was missed tackles or penalties or poor execution, the Crimson Tide had the look of a team that wasn't prepared for adversity.

Just look at that key series after Auburn took a 12-point lead with 12:49 left. On third-and-4 in Auburn territory, someone on the Alabama offensive line thought he heard a clap and snapped the ball prematurely, causing a fumble. On fourth down, running back Bo Scarbrough tried to clap to draw Auburn offside, only for the ball to be snapped inadvertently again, causing yet another fumble.

A procedural penalty on Auburn negated the second fumble, but it didn't matter. On the do-over, Hurts found Robert Foster in the flat for what looked like an easy first down, except Foster didn't have the awareness to turn up field and instead went sideways and fell short of moving the chains by half a yard. The defense then made three consecutive stops, bringing the punt team on the field, only for an offside call to give Auburn another set of downs.

One of the best third-down teams in college football crumbled on the so-called "money down," converting three of 11 attempts on offense while giving up nine of 18 attempts on defense.

Meanwhile, the coolest and most sure-handed player in the game, Hurts, turned the ball over for just the second time this season and had his third-lowest raw QBR of the season (47.5).

Alabama was rattled.

"I don't think we played our best game today," Saban said afterward.

He added: "I am sorry that I could not do a better job as a coach and as a leader to help them play better in this game so they would have an opportunity to play in the SEC championship."

Without the hope of a conference title, Alabama's shot at a berth in the playoff is now out of its hands. Saban has been relegated to the unseemly task of politicking for a spot among the final four teams.

"I think this team deserves the opportunity to get into the playoff by what they have been able to accomplish and what they have been able to do," he said. "Certainly not in this game, but I think the team we played tonight is a very good football team -- probably one of the best teams in the country.

"We have won 11 games, and not many teams have been able to do that."

Well, four teams have won 11 games, and Wisconsin has won 12, but nevertheless ...

"I really don't know what all the scenarios might be where we would have an opportunity to do it," Saban said. "I certainly would like to see this team get the opportunity to do it. I think they deserve it."

It's fair for Saban to feel that way, but it doesn't hide that Alabama lost by two touchdowns to end the regular season and looked lost in the process.

Maybe if that kind of loss came in October and not late November, it would be different, but timing matters. With Auburn off to play Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, the last impression of Alabama that the committee has isn't a flattering one.

Maybe Wisconsin will lose to Ohio State or TCU will beat Oklahoma to change the current playoff outlook. Who knows?

One thing is certain: For the first time in a long time, Alabama can't do anything about it.

Instead of this being the customary Week 13 in Tuscaloosa, it's an off week, and all Saban can do is wait.