The Alabama Crimson Tide just completed the greatest regular season in college football history with a first-ever 10-0 record in SEC play. The Tide dominated each of its opponents, and no game seemed even remotely in doubt.
On the offensive side of the ball, Mac Jones has put together the greatest season of any quarterback in the program’s storied history. His go-to target, DeVonta Smith, could end up being regarded as the greatest wide receiver to ever suit up for the Tide.
Alabama now heads to Atlanta, and then the College Football Playoff, looking to complete the greatest season in college football history.
On the other side of the state, Auburn University made the move to fire the greatest coach in its program’s history. In announcing Gus Malzahn’s termination, Auburn let go of a coach who averaged nearly nine wins per season and totaled 39 conference victories in his eight seasons leading the program.
Malzahn had eight wins against top-10 teams and was the only active head coach in the nation to have three wins over Nick Saban. His offenses at Auburn included five 1,000-yard rushers.
The strength of Auburn’s schedule during his eight years may be the toughest run of games for any single head coach in college football history.
Names of replacements being bandied about in the early stages of the search include Mario Cristobal, Hugh Freeze, Dan Quinn, Billy Napier, Scott Satterfield, Brent Venables, Tony Elliott, Bill O’Brien and Mike Gundy.
Here are our experts’ ballots for this week’s power rankings.
Zack Shaw’s ballot:
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Clemson
4. Ohio State
5. Texas A&M
6. Cincinnati
7. USC
8. Florida
The lowdown: What Alabama is doing under head coach Nick Saban this year is remarkable. Hearing so many other coaches lament the struggles of 2020 (which are very real) and then watching Alabama dismantle opponent after opponent creates a huge dissonance. Even on a day when the Tide’s passing attack was grounded, Alabama returned to their traditional formula of dominant defense, special teams and rushing en route to a seven touchdown conference win. Clemson, Notre Dame and Ohio State are the only teams in the country that might be able to stay within two scores of Alabama… maybe.
Paul Shashy’s ballot:
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Clemson
4. Ohio State
5. Texas A&M
6. Cincinnati
7. USC
8. Coastal Carolina
The lowdown: Game cancellations due to COVID-19 made for another weird weekend with just a few games, but that didn’t stop some CFB excitement from unfolding.
Florida’s loss to LSU shook things up this week in the power rankings, knocking the Gators out of the top eight and subsequently making the SEC Championship game less exciting while giving Texas A&M a very legitimate shot to make the final four.
Additionally, Miami fell out of the power rankings after North Carolina smoked them. Coastal Carolina—still undefeated—had a great win against a solid Troy team; therefore, they slide into the No. 8 spot.
Speaking of sliding in, USC also slid into the rankings for the first time after their fifth game and a decisive win against UCLA.
