re: How many times has Alabama lucked into the playoffs/championship game?

The true answers to your question are either 0 or every time. College football is unique in that the best teams are selected at the end of the year to play for the title. Sometimes unbeaten teams aren’t selected. Sometimes 2 loss teams are. Every year Alabama has been selected, the majority of sportswriters and coaches and committees member who made the decision thought they were one of the deserving teams. So, every time they were selected it was lucky, but it was no more lucky than any other team that was ever selected. No team ever truly “deserves it” without question.