Key CFB week one games of interest to Alabama football fans

Alabama football fans are interested in more than the Louisville game. Check out previews of six CFB week one games, around the SEC and the nation.

A quick note for Alabama football fans – Bama Hammer and most other sources define week one as Thursday, Aug. 30 through Monday, Sept. 3. Almost as a prequel to the new season, a few college football games were played on Aug. 25. We think of those as week zero.

For every Alabama football fan, there is a primary interest of anything and everything Crimson Tide. Our love of college football does not stop there. Most of us have at least a couple of other teams whose success we enjoy. The teams we regularly root against probably make up an even longer list.

Beyond those interests, there are the two big picture issues. Who will the Tide play in the SEC Championship game? More importantly, who (along with the Alabama Crimson Tide) will participate in the fifth College Football Playoff?

Chasing the answers to those questions is a 13 and 14 week ebb and flow quest. And it all starts in week one. The performance of the eventual winner in the other four Power Five conferences is vital to the Crimson Tide. The odds are not high the 2018 CFB final four will again include two teams from one conference.

Alabama football could slam-dunk its way to the final four by going undefeated through the SEC Championship game. The odds of that happening are not high either. Only once in Nick Saban’s head coaching career has his team been undefeated, the 2009 Alabama football National Champions.

So we Alabama football fans need to pay close attention to the rest of CFB. Bama Hammer is here to help. In the following pages, our writing staff previews six games from week one. We present the previews in the order the games will be played.