In Week 3 of the college football season, there is no consensus about the Alabama Crimson Tide. The national media doesn’t much know what to make of Alabama. Even with some pundits claiming solid insight, no consensus exists. So far, against two widely different opponents, Alabama has been two significantly different teams. <\/p>\n
The muddled situation is similar to what college football went through in the BCS years. Human poll voters were often doubted, and computer models were sometimes considered to be better at ranking teams. The models proved not to be algorithmic soothsayers. Even so, in the BCS Era, there was no widespread debate that in each season, the two best teams competed for the National Championship.<\/p>\n
Alabama football fans are not yet sure what to make of the Crimson Tide either. Some mixture of reality and clarity is anticipated on Sept. 27 when Alabama takes on Georgia in Athens. <\/p>\n
Currently, very few college football pundits have the Crimson Tide as a Playoff team. One demented pundit predicts Alabama’s post-season will be a trip to Nashville for the Music City Bowl. Numerous less deranged bowl predictions have the Crimson playing somewhere in Florida.<\/p>\n
Alabama Crimson Tide and the Computer Models<\/p>\n
ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) still loves the Crimson Tide<\/a>. The FPI has Alabama as the SEC’s second-highest-ranked team. ESPN’s Bill Connelly SP+ model ranks 766 college football teams. Connelly’s Top 766 algorithm has the Crimson Tide as college football’s No. 3 team<\/a> and his highest-ranked SEC team. The model has Oregon at No. 1, followed by Ohio State. The Georgia Bulldogs are No. 4.<\/p>\n