5 teams that should be ahead of Alabama in the AP Top 25 poll

Even though the Alabama Crimson Tide are the reigning SEC champions and played in the final four-team College Football Playoff last season, it’s the dawn of a new era in Tuscaloosa, of course. That’s because Nick Saban has retired from coaching, and now in comes former Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer to try to keep this floundering dynasty on track. What could possibly go wrong?

Regardless of what you think of the Crimson Tide heading into the season, the Associated Press still thinks highly of them. In the preseason AP Top 25 poll, Alabama will begin the season ranked No. 5. The top four wasn’t a surprise to many (Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Ohio State), but I wouldn’t have put the Crimson Tide that high. I would have put them among the top 10 teams, but not at No. 5.

So what I’m going to do today is outline five teams that could have been or honestly should have been ranked above Alabama. Some are more obvious than others, while some teams are simply my attempt at creating controversy. Can Alabama win the national title this year? I’m skeptical of that, but I wouldn’t completely rule it out either. It’s all going to start with winning at least 10 games.

Here’s a team that if it had a bigger record would probably have been ranked ahead of Alabama.

I’m not trying to be a troll, but there are a lot of people who have a very optimistic opinion of the Utah Utes heading into this season. While I’m not sure they’ll be playing in Arlington in the new Big 12, this team has the potential to be in the top four in the country, based strictly on AQ. Cam Rising can rent a car with the time he’s been in school. Plus, they have Kyle Whittingham.

Utah is like a scaled-down version of Georgia. The Utes are well-coached, typically have great quarterback play, and will physically give you grief every time you step on the field with them. The Big 12 should be a lot of fun this year. While there are plenty of scenarios in which Alabama and Utah make the College Football Playoff, I have a better idea of ​​what I’m getting from the Utes than I do from the Crimson Tide.

Utah should have been a top 10 team in the initial AP Top 25 poll, so I have them ahead of Alabama.

Keep one important thing in mind: It’s Brian Kelly’s year of eruption. When it’s been his third year at any big-name program, his teams go deep. The third year at Notre Dame resulted in a national title berth. The third year at Cincinnati saw his team make it to a BCS bowl. The third year at Central Michigan culminated in a 10-win season. You get the idea, right? LSU has an easy schedule and a fantastic head coach in Kelly.

With Garrett Nussmeier replacing Jayden Daniels at center, I have a hard time seeing the Bayou Bengals slowing down on offense. The key for them here is whether the defense can improve under Blake Baker. While I don’t see the Tigers coming into the SEC Championship Game with a perfect 12-0 record, this seems like a team destined to go at least 10-2, probably an 11-1 record, in all honesty.

With LSU, there is a lot more knowledge about the program than I can say about Alabama at this point.

While the LSU Tigers and Utah Utes could have been ranked higher than Alabama, these next three teams should have been. The first team we need to mention is the Ole Miss Rebels. Even though they were only one spot behind Alabama in the initial AP Top 25 poll, I don’t think the fact that the Rebels are ranked behind Alabama is as outrageous as some others. It has everything to do with Lane Kiffin.

We know the Rebels are going to score points offensively on a multi-pronged attack. We also know they’re going to lose a game they can’t afford. What really matters is that everything is trending in the same direction for Ole Miss, while there are still some loose ends that need to be tied up in Tuscaloosa. Overall, I like Ole Miss’ chances of getting to Atlanta a lot more than Alabama’s.

Ole Miss is correctly ranked No. 6, but the Rebels should have been ranked higher than the Tide.

While Notre Dame often gets way too much love from the college football media this time of the season, I fully expect Marcus Freeman to have his Fighting Irish ready to play this year. His team made great strides last year. They just signed former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard, not to mention former LSU offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. Keep in mind that Notre Dame is still an independent team on the national level.

The reason this is important is that all they need to do is have a record of 10 wins and 2 losses to make the playoffs with fairly decent regularity. I have seen two Notre Dame teams make the playoffs, as well as a third play for a BCS National Championship under Brian Kelly. To me, this team is giving off similar vibes that can’t be denied. As with the other teams mentioned, I know what I’m getting a lot more.

Like Ole Miss, Notre Dame is correctly ranked No. 7, but I would have placed them ahead of the Tide as well.

If I had a vote, I would have put the Penn State Nittany Lions at No. 5 in my AP Top 25 poll. Even though they sit firmly as the third-best team in the league behind Ohio State and Oregon in that order, they have their playoff spot locked up. James Franklin is The Driver, man, holding his hands at 10-2 so he can finish 10-2 like his life depends on it. 10-2 in the new Big Ten means you’re a playoff team.

With so many rising players on the team like Drew Allar, Nicholas Singleton and Abdul Carter, not to mention former Ohio State receiver Julian Fleming who came over from Columbus, this team has one of the highest levels in college football. I love the two coordinator hires Franklin made by bringing in former Indiana head coach Tom Allen and former Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.

I have nothing but confidence in this Penn State team’s ability to keep the car on the road and achieve a 10-2 record.