Chances are, if you're reading this, you're a fan of Alabama football. This is an Alabama Crimson Tide blog, after all. But there are plenty out there who read this site who aren't fans of Alabama, though they wouldn't admit it.
Those same folks are tuning in every week to watch Alabama, too, despite likely making it known publicly that they "don't care" one way or another.
But the truth is they do. Alabama, even without Nick Saban, is still college football's main character. Fans tune in every week to "hate watch" the Crimson Tide in hopes of watching them lose. Alabama has had the college football world in a chokehold for nearly two decades now.
It's why even the national media consistently prays on the Tide's downfall. It's also why when Alabama does lose, opposing fans storm the field and tear down the goalposts, and then that particular game dominates the news cycle for the next week or more.
Whether you love Alabama or you hate Alabama, you're probably tuning in to watch them play:
Most-watched college football teams through Week 8, per Nielsen📺
— On3 NIL (@On3NIL) October 23, 2025
1. Alabama
2. Tennessee
3. Georgia
4. Texas
More: https://t.co/9u7WCC5WI9 pic.twitter.com/J2qlDKkUqB
Alabama is the most watched college football team in 2025
It's not a coincidence that the next two on the list behind Alabama also happen to have been opponents of the Crimson Tide this season.
Also - cue the angry Big Ten fans who will look at that list as another SEC conspiracy as if Nielsen has an agenda for the Southeastern Conference.
College football fans prefer to watch quality games. Imagine that. Alabama has played almost exclusively a Power Four schedule through the first seven games of the season. The Crimson Tide is 4-0 in SEC play and has also played two Power Four out-of-conference opponents in Florida State and Wisconsin. UL Monroe is the lone exception on the Tide's schedule thus far.
That trend will continue. Though Alabama's gauntlet of four consecutive ranked opponents technically comes to an end this week, a road tilt against South Carolina still represents a challenging game. Two more ranked opponents await on the other side of the bye week that follows this weekend, with LSU and Oklahoma coming to Bryant-Denny Stadium in consecutive weeks.
Alabama then finishes the regular season at home against Eastern Illinois and then on the road against Auburn. Outside of that Eastern Illinois matchup, you can expect plenty of "neutral" fans tuning in and wishing Alabama's opponent could do what they probably didn't or haven't in a long time: beat the Crimson Tide.