Alabama ’s win against Georgia may not have an enormous impact on who wins the national championship in January, but it did have an immediate impact on the AP Top 25 now. What should it have meant? Let’s dig into my ballot after the Crimson Tide returned to No. 1 for the first time since Oct.
2, 2022 — a long drought by recent Alabama standards. Advertisement 1. There was a time Saturday night when Alabama appeared to be a shoo-in for No.
1 — when it pulled ahead 28-0 in the second quarter against Georgia, to be exact. The winner of the top-four matchup between the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs had a good chance to supplant Texas atop the poll regardless, but Alabama appeared to be on the verge of a historic rout that would leave no doubt. And then Alabama blew the lead and needed late heroics from Jalen Milroe and freshman receiver Ryan Williams to survive with a 41-34 win .
Does Alabama still deserve to make the leap to No. 1 after what was almost an epic collapse? Yes. I didn’t hesitate to vote Alabama No.
1. The route to getting to a seven-point win was eventful, but if you had said beforehand that Alabama would score 42 points and get 491 yards of total offense from Milroe, it would seem obvious that the Crimson Tide would be No. 1.
Texas has a case, but Alabama gets a boost from what’s now the best win in the country. I was one of 40 voters to tab the Crimson Tide No. 1.
2. There have been 72 matchups of AP top-five teams in the regular season since poll expansi.
