Major College Football Program Deemed Criminally Underrated in Latest Rankings

A Power Four program has been tabbed as "criminally underrated" by a college football analyst in a reaction to new rankings.

Alabama head coach Kalen Deboer talks on the sideline during the Rose Bowl against Indiana | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Nearly six months separate late February from the opening weekend of the 2026 college football season.

In the months leading up to every college football season, the media begins to project what will transpire in the upcoming season. These projections come in the form of College Football Playoff brackets, Heisman Trophy odds and top 25 rankings.

Heather Dinich of ESPN released way-too-early rankings for the 2026 college football season on Thursday. Dinich listed Alabama at No. 17 in the top 25, the last SEC team listed in the way-too-early poll.

The Crimson Tide enters a pivotal third season in the Kalen DeBoer era. Alabama is still in the challenging process of trying to regain its status as a premier program in college football following the retirement of Nick Saban. Under Saban's watch, the Crimson Tide posted a 201-29 overall record and six national championship victories in 17 seasons.

Alabama took a step in the right direction in the 2025 season. The Crimson Tide's 10 regular-season wins were good enough to get it back into the College Football Playoff for the first time in two years, and the 7-1 record in conference play was good enough to get it back into the SEC Championship game for the first time in two years.

Alabama head coach Kalen Deboer reacts during the fourth quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs during the 2025 SEC Championship game | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

However, the Crimson Tide's 2025 performance did not instill belief in it as a national power. The struggles on the offensive line and in the run game were uncharacteristic for an Alabama program that dominated those areas for decades. Additionally, the Crimson Tide is losing many of its key pieces from the 2025 season, most notably quarterback Ty Simpson.

While all of these factors make Dinich's ranking of Alabama justifiable, not everyone agrees with that rationale. Former Vanderbilt quarterback and ESPN college football analyst Jordan Rodgers vehemently disagreed, calling the Crimson Tide's placement "criminal."

“It is criminal. Now, look, you’re really smart, because when you release the college football ranking this early, this many months in advance, you gotta rage-bait a little bit," Rodgers said. "You got to drop some nuggets that are going to get people fired up. That one, putting Alabama, not just at 17, Heather, but behind Penn State, Penn State had almost 50 guys transfer out of that program.”

The rationale behind way-too-early rankings has never been clear. If the rationale revolves around how talented a team is on paper, Rodgers' gripe about sticking Penn State ahead of Alabama when it has virtually an entirely new team in a different league is understandable.

If scheduling is a key consideration, then Dinich's rationale makes sense. The Nittany Lions miss every Big Ten team that reached the College Football Playoff in 2025, whereas Alabama squares off against 10 Power Four foes, two of which reached the College Football Playoff in Georgia and Texas A&M.