NCAA Football Report (Week 9)
A number of the top teams in the country took the week off in Week 9 as they prepare for a sprint to the finish.
That includes the best team in the country in Alabama who have become the rarest sight in college football, consistent.
Every four years in college football teams put together an entirely new team making it extremely difficult to stay great for much longer than a few years.
Usually, it takes a bit for the freshman to get going and by the time a really good recruiting class is ready to compete they are setting their sights on the NFL.
Teams can put together pretty long runs through the seasons and be great in certain eras but they rarely last too long.
The Crimson Tide have destroyed that though as they have been the best team in college football since 2009 in Nick Saban’s third year at the helm.
Since that time they have never been out of the top ten and have also found their way to six National Championships winning five of them.
As the years go on the program just seems to be getting more and more unstoppable as they now head into every season with the assumption that they are the best.
They have started almost every season in the last few sitting at the top of the standings from the start of the season.
More often than not they end up on the top as well and that has put them in a unique position.
This year the conversation has been varied surrounding some of the best teams in the country and whether or not they belong.
There were doubts about Clemson at the start of the year with a quarterback situation that was built for disaster.
The Ohio State Buckeyes were going to have to go coach-less for the start of the season and in the Big Ten the top team rarely stays the top team.
Nobody from the Pac 12 was gaining any serious thought as the conference continued to struggle to break through.
A Sooners team without Baker Mayfield was going to be a question mark heading into a new season.
All of those conversations along with the potential teams that could make a run dominated the conversation ahead of the season.
The only thing that was never really talked about was the Crimson Tide aside from a small quarterback controversy at the start of the year.
That controversy has now led to a Heisman candidate while the #1 spot in the AP rankings has been unchanged from the start.
This is where the history of the Tide gets a little murkier though as they have scheduled terrible games throughout the start of every season.
When looking at strength of schedule it is hard to argue that they have had the strongest one facing teams like Arkansas State and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns.
They are somewhat beholden to the SEC schedule as they have also faced Texas A&M and Ole Miss but neither have been great programs in recent years.
They haven’t really been in a game throughout the season and no team has even come close to an upset.
That lack of challenge has some believing they don’t deserve that top spot in the rankings until they at least prove that they deserve that spot.
History tells a different story though as the Tide constantly have bad schedules to start the year and then find their way to tougher games at the end of the year.
No matter the schedule that they go through the fact is that when they enter the playoffs they remain the best team.
They constantly win titles and beat the best teams in the country to take home National Titles.
Every year they prove to be the best team and so they continue to sit on the top of the rankings until proven that they aren’t the best team.
The Tide aren’t without issues as they have struggled to remain undefeated recently not even taking the SEC title last year.
Still, the voters are waiting to see someone prove to them that they are not the best team in the country.
The CFP committee will be the ultimate deciders as they release their first rankings this week and at the top will likely be a familiar face.
The Tide could have that all change with their biggest test of the season coming in Week 10 when they play #4 LSU.
If they get by the Tigers, it will be tougher to argue that they don’t deserve a spot in at least the top four.
Then again, this could be the time when someone proves that they aren’t the best but for now, the CFP committee takes a look and will most likely realize they can’t knock the Tide off the top.
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