Alabama Football: There are not 10 undefeated teams better than Bama

Going into week five, college football has 27 undefeated teams. Alabama Football not being one of them brings joy to many fans across the nation.

It is fair to state Alabama Football is not currently a CFB Playoff contender. That in no way means the Crimson Tide will not be a contender when the first CFB Playoff rankings are released on Tuesday, Oct. 31.

An argument can be made the Crimson Tide will not be a contender until it wins the SEC Championship. It is accurate that no two-loss team has ever made the Playoff final four. Last season, the 2-loss Tide came close, finishing No. 5 in the Selection Committee’s final ranking.

Debating Playoff contenders can wait a couple of weeks. Alabama is not one today, but at 5-1 after the Texas A&M game, my list of the top 8-10 Playoff contenders will include the Crimson Tide.

I am basing my position on the belief that before week five games, there are not 10 undefeated teams better than the Crimson Tide. The number of unbeaten will go down during week five games, but currently, the FBS has 27 undefeated teams.

From an Alabama Football Perspective

Admittedly, I am viewing the college football competition from the perspective of a Crimson Tide fan. But if much of the college football can predict the demise of the Alabama football program and Nick Saban, I can look at the college football horizon through crimson-tinted lenses.

As published by On3, ESPN provides a worthwhile tool in its ranking of the 27, undefeated teams. I offer no debate about the ranking of the teams. Instead, my strong opinion is that 17 of the 27 teams are not as good as the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Alabama Football Better Than 17 Undefeated Teams

The 17 teams are Marshall, Georgia State, James Madison, Liberty, Fresno State, Air Force, Maryland, Kansas, Missouri, Washington State, Kentucky, Louisville, Syracuse, North Carolina, Duke, USC and Oklahoma.

On the last two; I can’t figure out why the computers rate OU so highly, and as great as USC is on offense, the Trojans are at an equal magnitude of being awful on defense. It still takes good defense to win championships and for some reason, Lincoln Riley thinks otherwise.

There are seven undefeated teams I can’t say are better than the Crimson Tide or not. Three are Big Ten teams, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. All three might be better than Alabama, but teams from the B1G are so often overrated, that it is hard to know at this point of the season. I give four more question mark status and like the B1G trio, they all might possibly be better than the Crimson Tide. They are Oregon, FSU, Utah and Miami. I came close to including Utah and Miami with the 17 I am sure are not better than the Crimson Tide.

The three teams I have no problem stating are better than Alabama are Georgia, Washington and Texas. Call me crazy but my take is only three teams are better overall than Alabama.

Not that it matters, but a couple of key computer rankings mostly agree with me.

Why am I so bullish on the Crimson Tide? I think within the next two to three weeks, the two best defenses in college football will be Georgia and Alabama. Until then the Crimson Tide has enough offensive weaknesses, it will remain vulnerable. By the Tennessee and LSU games, I expect Alabama will be a 7-14 points better team than the Bengal Tigers and the Vols.

Two things to remember are that much will change with future game results and though none are discussed, there might be some 1-loss teams better than the Crimson Tide.