Last week: Lost to Texas A&M Aggies 41-38
Okay, this needs to be explained. Yes, Alabama lost a close one to Texas A&M on the road. However, the Tide still blew out Ole Miss the week before and also beat Florida in The Swamp. For as much as recency matters, without every transitive win being an advantage, we simply can’t dramatically alter the rankings because of that one game.
Alabama is one of four SEC teams with one loss or less. Two are undefeated, which would have always pushed them to No. 3 in our power rankings. Since they are a week removed from absolutely destroying the other one-loss team, they get to stay at No. 3.
Perhaps Nick Saban’s young team needed that wake-up call. He has been visibly frustrated for weeks about the complacency of his players, and it finally came back to bite him. They had a chance to win in the end, but they blew it in crunch time. That could be a concern on its own.
Saban will have his hands full with Mike Leach and Mississippi State this week, as that team beat A&M a week before A&M beat his team. They should then beat Tennessee football the next week despite what Josh Heupel is doing, and Arkansas is the one ranked team left on the schedule. As a result, there’s no reason to panic yet. They still control their own destiny for everything.