I don’t know about any other college football fans out there. But something is very off about this season. And that something is the discrepancy between Alabama and every last other program in the nation.
Don’t get me wrong, there have, like always, been a ton of amazing games, upsets and drama that we don’t get in any other sport, and this is simply due to the fact that there is no other sport where each and every game means as much as it does in college football. A single slip-up can completely alter a program’s chances to reach their goal, whatever that goal may be.
But this year is different. In a typical season, nothing makes me happier than witnessing the second ranked team in the nation get pummeled to the tune of a 29 point upset against a team that opened the season 0-3. Yes, obviously I am speaking of the Ohio State Buckeyes, who were completely decimated by Purdue last weekend.
However, as the game was getting out of hand a thought occurred to me. Ohio State was the only team to receive a first place vote in the AP Poll not named Alabama the week prior. And earlier in the day last Saturday I watched as the Crimson Tide went on the road to Tennessee and made the Volunteers their eighth straight opponent to start the year that they essentially defeated in the first quarter. The SEC is supposed to be the best conference in college football, and I believe most would argue that this years version is no different. Tennessee went to Auburn the weekend prior, one of the toughest places to play in the country, and were able to leave with a victory.
Alabama, like they have to every other team they have faced this year, made Tennessee look like a middling FCS program.
Purdue was able to do the same to Ohio State, the alleged second best team in the nation.
So then what, Curtis, is the point you ask?
College Football is Broken. And Alabama broke it.
Yes the Purdue-Ohio State thrashing was phenomenal to watch. Yes I will continue to watch every week because I’m nuts about the league. Yes it is always a treat to see the top dogs get upset and then anxiously wait to see how the next set of rankings shake out. But it is significantly less fun this year. Because every time alleged top teams in the nation lose --- we are all reminded of one horrifyingly true fact --- and that fact is that Alabama is in a completely different league than everyone else this season.
To reinforce this point --- lets take a look at the resumes of the nation’s other contenders ---- emphasis intended.
I think everyone can agree that the only threat remaining in Alabama’s regular season schedule is next Saturday’s contest in Baton Rouge. And I’m using the word threat very liberally here. This annual meeting with LSU appears on paper at least to be a monumental game. Ed Orgeron has the Tigers playing very good football to be sure, especially in the hostile confines of Tiger Stadium. And if LSU were to win this game, well, this article would seem pretty redundant, so lets hope for my sake that doesn’t occur.
Here’s the thing, it won’t.
The Tigers are rightfully ranked 4th in the nation, the top ranked team with a loss. They have signature wins over then #2 ranked Georgia, as well as early season resume builders against Miami and Auburn, though the latter two are getting less and less impressive with every week that passes. Their lone stumble was on the road in Florida, which doesn’t sound all that bad given that the Gators are a one-loss team as well. And in the treacherous SEC, that isn’t all that bad.
But how true is that last statement really?
Is the SEC really that insanely stacked. Or is it brutally overrated due to the sheer presence of Alabama.
In case you’re wondering ---- my vote goes to the latter.
After all, if Florida was really a national title threat, would they really have had to come back from 18 down last weekend to beat Vanderbilt? VANDERBILT?
The answer is no. As can be seen in pretty well all the SEC contests played this year that didn’t include Alabama, there is evidently a lot of parody in the Conference from teams 2-12. But then there’s Alabama, who once again, is beating all their conference foes so badly that their all-world Quarterback can hang out in a lawn chair with a mimosa in the second half and the Tide still wins by 30 --- minimum.
Moving right along --- lets look at the other top teams in the country.
First and foremost we have Clemson --- easily the second best team in the sport in recent history. Clemson, to its credit, is putting together a nice little season once again. Their defensive line is downright terrifying, definitely the best in the country in my humble opinion. But here’s the problem… Alabama is way better than them everywhere else. Additionally, if not for two late touchdowns they would have a home loss to Syracuse on the resume. If not for those late scores, the conversation about Clemson would be completely different than it is. Does anyone want to project the final score if the Orange made a trip to Tuscaloosa?
Again, Tua, lawn chair, mimosa, you get it.
How about Notre Dame?
7-0? check. Victories over some solid programs? Check. Clear cut national title contender? Not even the slightest bit.
Four of the Irish’s seven victories have been by one possession. And three of those wins were at home against the like of Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt, and Ball State. This article could have been much more effective in Bama had Vandy on the schedule. As rest assured, that would be an ugly affair for the Commodores.
Then there’s Michigan. Jim Harbaugh seems to finally have a team in Ann Arbor, a group that is giving Wolverine fans a glimmer of hope that they may in fact be returning to the storied program they once were. The defense is playing phenomenally, though in the Big Ten its tough to know what that really means as points always seem to be harder to come by there than in any of the other major conferences. Offensively it’s another story. The Wolverines are abysmal on third down, particularly on third and long. And Last week’s game at Michigan State was no exception. As I was watching that contest, witnessing Shea Patterson fail time and time again to move the chains for the Wolverines, all I could think was --- there’s no way Tua would be having this kind of trouble on third down. And then that thought extended to realizing there’s no way Tua would have to face this many third downs in the first place.
The moral of the story is, again, that college football is broken.
I’m not saying that there is no fun to be found anywhere. After all, projecting what the College Football Playoff will look like is much easier said than done. Alabama, naturally, will take the top spot. Clemson I’m sure has already passed the eye test. Even if they stumble along the way in the humorously awful ACC, which they often do, they will crack the final 4. If Notre Dame is able to finish off the season undefeated they are locked in as well. Leaving the last spot to the winner of the Michigan-Ohio State game, if my calculations are correct.
That leaves out the Big 12 and Pac 12 --- which as they have often done are internally beating themselves out of playoff contention. Worst of all, if Notre Dame were to lose, say in their season finale at USC, I believe the committee is more likely to take a one-loss SEC school over a Big 12 or Pac 12 champion. And again, this is purely because Alabama raises the profile of the SEC --- which I really don’t believe is as strong top to bottom as many give it credit for.
To sum up….
I’m sure every college football fan outside of Ohio enjoyed watching the Boilermakers pummel the Buckeyes. But more than anything it revealed a horrifying truth about the state of college football. And that is that Alabama has completely broken the system.
So if you’re a fan who doesn’t much care about who ends up the national champion, I’m sure his year has been just as enjoyable as all the other. If you’re a Big 12 fan and just enjoy watching Kyler Murray put up 1000 yards a game, or is loving the resurgence from the Longhorns under Tom Herman, that’s great.
Or if you’re a west coaster and you’re getting a kick out of Gardner Minshew and his pornstar moustache light up the air in the passing game, or JT Daniels developing at USC, or old Herm Edwards trying to raise the Sun Devils into prominence, all the power to you.
Or maybe you love the ACC. Not sure why you would be, as basketball season hasn’t quite started yet… Hell, even Jimbo Fisher jumped ship from his cushy job at Florida State (where he won a title) to take the job at Texas A&M, supposedly thinking “maybe I’ll be the former Saban assistant to dethrone those guys…” Good luck with that there Jumbo. Or maybe you thought Miami really was on the path back to greatness, a notion that has faded faster than it started. But again, really, to each there own.
But. If you’re like me, and above all else you care about who the real contenders are, there simply isn’t anything for us this season. Alabama not only has a stable of guys that should already be playing on Sundays, they also now boast the premier quarterback in the nation.
It just isn’t fair. And oh, by the way, he’ll be there next year too. Alabama, and to a lesser extent Clemson, have taken the drama out of college football. This isn’t the NBA. The fact that we can pick the national title game before the season even begins when there are well over 100 teams in the league is downright shameful.
Alabama has broken college football, and the worst part about it is there doesn’t appear to be any end in sight.