College football is a marathon, not a sprint. It's a cliché, but it was proven true again.

Even the best runners can cramp up late in the race. Take Alabama: The Crimson Tide have been either No. 1 or No. 2 in the polls all season and had outscored their opponents by an average of 31 points.

Jarrett Stidham scored Auburn's final touchdown in a 26-14 win over Alabama. Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Enter Saturday's muscle twinge. No. 6 Auburn, with the right offensive combination of smash and dash at running back and quarterback, took advantage of an Alabama defense that has been ravaged by injury in a 26-14 win. The sixth-ranked Tigers, according to their head coach, Gus Malzahn, beat the top-ranked Tide "handily" as Auburn fans mobbed him on the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium. It's a debilitating loss for the Tide being so close to the finish line, and it might keep them out of the playoff for the first time.

As for Auburn, no team in America will be happier to write a $250,000 check to the SEC as punishment for a third rushing-the-field offense since 2004. Less than a month ago, people were ready to put a "for sale" sign in Malzahn's yard, and his name was being floated around for the impending opening at Arkansas.

Now, he has beaten two No. 1 teams in three weeks, won the SEC West, is another win over Georgia from the College Football Playoff and has allowed others decide the fate of Auburn's bitter rival, Alabama.

Malzahn's Tigers beat Alabama by frustrating its tattered defense with 408 yards, including 168 on the ground (Alabama was giving up 87 per game), and reducing the Tide's balanced offense to something resembling the Florida Gators. Alabama was awful on third down (3-of-11), went 0-for-1 in the red zone, fumbled three times (lost one) and racked up a season-high nine penalties for 65 yards.

It was the most uncharacteristic and undisciplined game we've seen from a Nick Saban-coached Bama team in a long time, and a peaking Auburn was absolutely the worst thing Alabama could have faced Saturday.

"That loss to LSU was honestly the best thing that could have happened to us," Auburn safety Tray Matthews told ESPN this week.

Since blowing a 20-0 lead at LSU to fall to 5-2 on Oct. 14, the Tigers averaged 44 points and 541.3 yards over their next four games, including a 40-17 drubbing of then-No. 1 Georgia two weeks ago.

Auburn has gone from miserable to one of the best teams in the country. It isn't remotely ridiculous for the selection committee to slide the Tigers up to No. 1 based on recent performance alone.

That's what the playoff committee is looking at right now, correct? Body of work and what have you done for me lately is the butter to the committee's biscuit, and there's no way Auburn isn't at the forefront of the brains of those 13 members.

There are other considerations heading into conference championship games. Is soon-to-not-be No. 1 Alabama out of the playoff after losing to Auburn? Is two-loss Ohio State back in the running if it beats undefeated Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship? Is Georgia back in if it beats Auburn in Atlanta? Is it possible that a two-loss, Pac-12-winning USC could sneak in with a ton of help? How much will unbeaten UCF rise?

The short answer is that we just don't know at this point. The committee hasn't been dealt many curveballs. Saturday changed things a little, and conference championship weekend could send the committee into a tailspin if the right -- or wrong -- pieces fall.