Ohio State Buckeyes

The Crimson Tide saw some improvement in the AP Top 25 following a 45-17 come from behind win over Kentucky. But, it was the earthquake at the top of college football that may be remembered this week.

The Crimson Tide look to make back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoff under third-year coach Kalen DeBoer and potentially end the Southeastern Conference’s three-year national championship drought. The powerhouse league hasn’t even made the title game since Georgia won consecutive championships in 2022-23.

Ohio State and Oregon are 1-2 in the AP Top 25, giving the Big Ten Conference the top two teams in the preseason rankings for just the second time ever. Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas round out the top 5. The bitter pill for Alabama is its slot at number thirteen. The last time the Crimson Tide failed to make the top ten in the AP preseason was 2008, one year after legendary coach Nick Saban moved to Tuscaloosa.

Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey stood firm behind a 16-team College Football Playoff expansion, indicating that a disagreement with the Big Ten — which backs doubling the current bracket to 24 teams — is lingering deep into the offseason.

Alabama is forcing the committee that will set the College Football Playoff bracket to revisit an old question: Should a 12-team tournament to determine the national champion include a program with three losses? And Duke is bringing up a new head-scratcher that nobody really thought of before: Could a team possibly make the playoff with five?

Alabama got a little help in the AP Top 25 after defeating Wisconsin thirty eight to fourteen. Ohio State, Penn State and LSU are still the top three teams in Week 4 of the AP Top 25 poll.

The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees on Monday appointed Peter J. Mohler as the next president of the University of Alabama. Mohler joined Ohio State in 2011 as the director of the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute

After the first shake-up of the college football season, the Southeastern Conference grabbed six of the top seven spots in the AP Top 25, a first in the 88-year history of the rankings. Georgia received 54 out of a possible 63 first-place votes to keep a firm hold on number 1. Number 2 Texas jumped a spot after dominating defending national champion Michigan on the road and received four first-place votes. number 3 Ohio State slipped a spot. Then came number 4 Alabama, number 5 Mississippi, number 6 Missouri and number 7 Tennessee from the SEC. Notre Dame tumbled to 18th after being upset by Northern Illinois.

The former coaches of Alabama and Ohio State have something in common. It's a possible honor shared with Crimson Tide great Mark Ingram and former Pitt star Aaron Donald.

History could be made during day one of the NFL draft. The Carolina Panthers have the number one overall pick and there’s speculation the team will go for a quarterback. If Alabama’s Bryce Young is chosen over contenders like Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, it will be the first time an Alabama passer has gone first in the draft since 1965.