Alabama Football: After UT win Coaches Poll Crimson Tide gets slight bump

Week eight action, including the Alabama Football 34-20 win over the Tennessee Vols bumped the Crimson Tide up slightly in the latest Coaches Poll. Last week the Crimson Tide was tied with Texas at No. 8. This week Alabama is in sole possession of No. 8, with Texas taking the No. 7 slot.

Penn State was above the Crimson Tide last week, but after losing to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions dropped to No. 10. Apparently few (or none) coaches agreed with James Franklin’s comment that Ohio State and Penn State are two of college football’s best teams.

Alabama Football and other teams in Coaches Poll

• No. 1 – Georgia Bulldogs
• No. 2 – Michigan Wolverines
• No. 3 – Ohio State Buckeyes
• No. 4 – Florida State Seminoles
• No. 5 – Washington Huskies
• No. 6 – Oklahoma Sooners
• No. 7 – Texas Longhorns
• No. 8 – Alabama Crimson Tide
• No. 9 – Oregon Ducks
• No. 10 – Penn State Nittany Lions
• No. 11 – Ole Miss Rebels
• No. 15 – LSU Bengal Tigers
• No. 16 – Missouri Tigers
• No. 20 – Tennessee Vols
• No. 26 (other Receiving Votes) – Florida Gators
• No. 32 – Kentucky Wildcats

In ESPN’s FPI, the Crimson Tide moved up two spots to No. 5. Alabama is ranked above three undefeated Playoff contenders; Florida State (No. 6), Georgia (No. 7) and Washington (No. 12). The Huskies fell two spots after struggling to beat Arizona State on Saturday night.

The top four teams in the FPI are Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Oklahoma.

Other ESPN FPI Rankings

• No. 7 – Texas Longhorns
• No. 8 – Georgia Bulldogs
• No. 9 – LSU Bengal Tigers
• No. 10 – Oregon Ducks
• No. 13 – Ole Miss Rebels
• No. 15 – Texas A&M Aggies
• No. 17 – Southern Cal Trojans
• No. 20 – North Carolina Tar Heels
• No. 22 – Utah Utes
• No. 25 – Missouri Tigers
• No. 32 – Arkansas Razorbacks
• No. 33 Florida Gators
• No. 34 – Auburn Tigers
• No. 41 – South Carolina Gamecocks
• No. 43 – Mississippi State Bulldogs
• No. 44 – Kentucky Wildcats
• No. 98 – Vanderbilt Commodores

ESPN’s analytics now projects the Alabama Crimson Tide as a slight favorite to win the SEC Championship with a 42% chance compared to the Georgia Bulldogs at 39.6%.

In the newest AP Poll, the Crimson Tide moved up two spots to No. 9. Moving up four spots in the AP Poll were LSU to No. 15 and Missouri to No. 16. Tennessee dropped four spots to No. 21.

Alabama football fans can feel good about the Tide’s FPI ranking, despite the inexplicable No.1, No. 2, and No. 3 rankings of Big Ten teams.