When the AP Preseason Poll rankings came out, Alabama's ranking triggered an avalanche of emotional responses. Many of the responses came from Alabama Crimson Tide fans, but most of the onslaught came from college football media addicted to deriding Alabama.
In short supply were two more worthwhile responses to Alabama's worst preseason ranking since 2008. They are to ignore the rankings as next to meaningless or accept them as an honest measure of doubt and move on. What is of no value to the Alabama football team is calling the rankings a reality check, or worse, disrespectful.
The good news is that the Alabama Crimson Tide has something to prove: to itself, most importantly, to Alabama fans, and to the college football world.
Though it will matter little to current Alabama fans and nothing at all to current players, there is a message from the Tide's past worth heeding. Bill Battle played for Paul 'Bear' Bryant in 1960-62. In 1960, Bryant was a respected coach, but he had not walked on water yet. In November of that season, 5-1-1 Alabama trailed Georgia Tech at halftime, 15-0.
As Battle later recounted, Bryant cheerfully strolled into the locker room and told his team, "We've got them right where we want them." Alabama won the game, 16-15. A season later, they were national champions.
Two reasons Alabama can prove the AP Poll wrong
Everyone inside the Alabama football program has something to prove in 2026. That is especially true for the players who experienced beatdowns by Georgia and Indiana last December and January. Those losses cut deep. They also provided all the motivation any team could ever need to make amends. Whether the history is relevant to others or not, when I think about this season, Bryant's words from 1960 come to mind.
The second reason is a simple claim. Alabama has too much talent on its roster to be the SEC's seventh-best team, as the AP Poll indicates, or even the SEC's fifth - or sixth-best.
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