Alabama was named the No. 1 team in the first release of the College Football Playoff rankings, but history suggests that wasn’t the good news you’d think it was.
Good news, Alabama fans, the Crimson Tide are the No. 1 team in the first College Football Playoff rankings. The news was revealed on ESPN on Tuesday night with little surprise considering the sheer dominance displayed by Nick Saban’s team thus far. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is in front of the Heisman race and the offense is doing unprecedented things in Tuscaloosa.
The bad news is no team ranked No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff rankings has gone on to win the National Championship Game that year.
It’s a small sample size, to be sure, as the Playoff only dates back to 2014 when Mississippi State was the first No. 1 team in the first College Football Playoff rankings. That team was led by quarterback Dak Prescott who was fresh off a string of wins that saw the Bulldogs knock off No. 8 LSU, No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 2 Auburn. They’d go on to lose three of their last four games that year.
In 2015, it was Clemson owning the top spot in the first rankings. As Alabama fans will remember, the Tigers lost to the Tide in the first of two straight National Championship Game classics. The next year, it was Alabama to own the top spot in the first rankings only to have Clemson and Deshaun Watson get revenge on them.
Last year, it was Georgia who earned the top spot and they too fell victim to Alabama in the National Championship Game, in an overtime classic that gave birth to the legend of Tua Tagovailoa.
After four years of the College Football Playoff, the No. 1 team in the initial rankings has gone 0-3 in the title game and Mississippi State missed the playoff altogether.
History would suggest Alabama has good odds to make it to the National Championship Game. But this is where the math can be thrown out the window. None of those teams were this Alabama team. Just because it hasn’t been done yet, doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. I think Alabama is the best team in the country and will win the National Championship Game regardless of the small sample size that is hasn’t happened yet.
An Alabama national title would be the sixth for Saban at Alabama and his seventh overall. He’d pass Bear Bryant for the most all-time by a head coach and become the first team to win the national title after being ranked No. 1 in the debut playoff rankings.