The question isn’t whether Alabama should be No. 1?
The better question is a familiar one: Do y’all really want Bama?
Given the way Alabama looked in a 52-6 demolition of USC at AT&T Stadium on Saturday, that’s not going to be easy. Alabama coach Nick Saban said he “wasn’t pleased with the way” the Crimson Tide played despite being “happy with the win.”
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That might induce a few eye-rolls, but “The Process” is in full effect, so don’t expect Saban to look past Western Kentucky.
“We’ve got some really tough games with some really good teams,” Saban said. “If we don't get better, we're going to struggle. We play some of those teams in very tough places to play.”
Saban is right — a challenge could pop up in the SEC on any given week, but who will that challenge come from? Six other teams in the conference — No. 7 Georgia, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 21 Texas A&M, South Carolina and Arkansas — started 1-0. Saban’s combined record against those teams at Alabama is 30-4. That challenge likely will come from No. 19 Ole Miss, No. 20 LSU or maybe Auburn. Any SEC team could challenge the Tide, but will they?
If we learned anything from Week 1, then it’s that Alabama is the best bet to win the SEC, and the list of teams who can challenge the Crimson Tide for the national championship is short. That challenge might not come until the College Football Playoff.
Who would you take to beat the Tide right now?
Would it come out of the ACC from No. 2 Clemson or No. 3 Florida State? The Tigers were close last year. Could Florida State actually do it?
What about the Big Ten? No. 4 Ohio State and No. 5 Michigan stand out right now. They beat their opponents by an average of 70-7 in Week 1. For Alabama, it would be a chance to get revenge against the Buckeyes or get a chance to take on Jim Harbaugh. This is the scenario the networks will be rooting for. That’s no disrespect to No. 10 Wisconsin, No. 12 Michigan State or No. 16 Iowa, but we saw the Tide run through two of those teams last year.
Would the challenge come from Michigan’s Pac-12 cousin — No. 7 Stanford — or an up-and-comer like No. 8 Washington? Or maybe one of those up-tempo offenses Saban loves so much among No. 22 Oklahoma State, No. 23 Baylor or No. 24 Oregon?
Or the dream scenario: No. 6 Houston. Most of the country would be rooting for Houston, maybe a consolation prize for that one time the entire country rooted for Jim Valvano against Phi Slamma Jamma.
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There’s a long way to get there, and the Tide is by no means a lock to play in the College Football Playoff. Saban’s not going to hear any of that talk.
He’s worried about his team and Western Kentucky. He’ll probably make it a point to say that. A lot can happen and always does, but this season doesn’t really start until somebody gets Alabama.
“If you look at your internal scoreboard rather than the external scoreboard,” Saban said. “You say, ‘What do we need to do to improve? What do we need to do to get better?’”
If only he finished that, “Do y’all really want us?”
