ESPN's David Hale published 'another' in the media's avalanche of preseason rankings for the 138 FBS teams. Alabama fans will not like where Hale ranked the Crimson Tide. Hale's format used 20 tiers rather than a No.1 to No. 138 ranking. Hale candidly calls his tier ranking effort "educated guesses ... guaranteed to be accurate for at least as long as nobody knows any better."
Hale not taking himself too seriously is why I enjoy his work. One word can describe his writing style: pithy. Which, in his case, means being cleverly concise. In a media world in love with loud smugness, Hale's understated approach provides a break.
Like many others, Hale is not sold on the Alabama Crimson Tide. Hale's Tier 1: The safest bets are Indiana, Miami, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. Hale's Tier 2: Trust issues are Georgia, Oregon, and Texas.
Many Crimson Tide fans would probably have been happy to be in Tier 3: Maybe this is their year. Six teams made that tier, but not Alabama. The six are: BYU, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and USC.
Another Alabama Crimson Tide disappointing preseason ranking
Alabama made Tier 4: We're still here. Other Tier 4 teams are Michigan, Ole Miss, and Utah. A quick count of the SEC teams in Hale's top four tiers indicates that he projects the Crimson Tide as the SEC's sixth-best or seventh-best team.
Hale's ranking of Alabama is consistent with Bill Connelly's recent discussion of the Crimson Tide having a large number of 'ifs' for a national championship contender.
Hale described Alabama: " ... there's no sugarcoating that this is, at best, a B+ version of the program that owned college football for the better part of the 21st century. It's nowhere near the Mike Shula dark ages, but it's not all that close to the 2020 juggernaut either."
Hale added, "For most programs, this wouldn't be an insult, but the hard truth? Alabama is good. Not great. Not elite. Not generational. Good."
Maybe Hale is spot on about the Crimson Tide. My take is that Alabama has the potential to be better than 'Good'. Alabama going beyond 'Good' and becoming 'Very Good' might just be what I'm seeing through crimson-tinted glasses. Good, or in Hale's terms We're still here, of course, won't cut it for Alabama. Very good, but not elite (much less generational); could be an acceptable rebuilding block for future seasons.
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