While Alabama football fans wait for the first Selection Committee rankings on Oct. 30, the Bama Hammer staff will publish our internal ranking of the top eight teams.
Alabama football fans now have another team ranking to follow each week. In addition to the AP and Coaches polls and ESPN’s FPI, the Bama Hammer staff will rank the top eight teams each Monday.
Our purpose is to follow the guidelines of the College Football Selection Committee and select the best teams. Each ranking is based on season-to-date performance. Our rankings are not predictive of how teams will finish the season. They will adjust each week to incorporate the most recent game results.
Our process is simple. Our staff of five individually ranks the teams from No. 1 to No. 8. The selections are tabulated for the group total by giving each No. 1 ranking eight points and working down to the No. 8 team receiving one point. Therefore, the maximum points any team can receive is 40.
Those readers who are not Alabama football fans may question our objectivity. We make no such claim. Our rankings are subjective, just like the AP, Coaches and Playoff Committee rankings.
Below the rankings, each of our staff voters provides a short comment on the weekly result.
Bama Hammer CFB Elite Eight – Week No. 5 (Oct. 1)
- Alabama – 40 points
- Georgia – 34 points
- Ohio State – 29 points
- Oklahoma 25 points
- Clemson – 19 points
- Notre Dame – 16 points
- LSU – 11 points
- West Virginia – 3 points
Two more teams received points in our first weekly ranking: Auburn and Washington.
Bama Hammer Contributor, Jonathan Waldrop
My biggest determination here was Clemson. Truthfully, the Kelly Bryant transfer situation made them look a lot worse on Saturday than they actually were. I do think they’ve been exposed a couple of times in 2018, but that defense is still legit and, in my opinion, great teams know how to pull out a win when things go sideways. Things definitely went sideways against a good Syracuse team and they still won. We’ll see if they can maintain the rest of the way.
Bama Hammer Contributor, Chris Dodson
Alabama remains the team to beat. Ohio State’s victory over Penn State is a big resume win. Notre Dame and Clemson are outside the top 4 because they have not passed the eye test this season. Clemson is going to have a much harder time doing so with a weak ACC and an ugly win over Syracuse.
Bama Hammer Contributor, Ronald Moody
There is Alabama football, and then everyone else. Georgia, Ohio State, and Clemson are uber talented squads but somehow lack the immaculate invincibility that Alabama oozes. The jury is out on Georgia. The Bulldogs tough four-game stretch against LSU, Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn is quite daunting. Ohio State stunned a decent Penn State team. Clemson hedged all bets on a true freshman to lead them to the CFP. Nonetheless, their defense has vastly underachieved.
Bama Hammer Contributor, Kevin Mudd
Going forward from this point the real question currently is will Alabama show a weakness in their offensive firepower? If Alabama continues to roll into its bye week then the night in Baton Rouge will be the most hyped game of the season. But at this point it is Alabama, then everyone else
Bama Hammer Lead Writer, Ronald Evans
At this point. it is difficult to define any of the other teams as playing at the level of Alabama football. The next four teams in our rankings are contenders. The others are probably just pretenders.
Check in with each Monday, Alabama football fans (others are welcome too) for our updated ranking. The CFB Elite Eight brought to you by Bama Hammer.