How Alabama’s Dominance Is Saving College Football

Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide Creating Much Needed Fan & Media Interest In A Down Year

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com College Football Blogger

Forget what Paul Finebaum said – Alabama is not sucking the life out of college football.

Instead, it’s quite the opposite. The dominance of Alabama is saving college football.

While some people are tired of seeing the Crimson Tide always ranked #1 – which it has been at some point every year since 2008 – and always playing in the National Championship game, this is actually good for the sport. Very good.

This situation is focusing attention on college football in a down year and creating attention because the mainstream media is talking about Nick Saban and Alabama. It’s galvanizing people to watch games just to root against Bama. “We Want Bama” is not just a sign, it’s a calling card for people wanting to watch the games.

But more than that, Alabama is saving college football because so many of the other teams are so bad.

Just look at the Top 25. It’s so full of mediocre teams that Auburn – which had only six first downs through 3 1/2 quarters in a recent game until Texas A&M let the Tigers off the hook – is ranked. And so, too, is Washington, a team Auburn beat to start the season. Trying to find 25 teams to even rank is a task more difficult for the College Football Playoff committee than selecting the top four teams.

You want bad teams? Just look the Pac 12. It’s so bad that as of this posting 2-7 UCLA can still win the conference.

Think there would be as much interest, and media attention paid to it, in college football if every week’s lineup was a bunch of 6-3 teams? Without Alabama – and let’s not forget Clemson – college football would be like the NFL with a bunch of mediocre teams watchable only by their most devoted fans.

The sport needs a king on the top of the hill.

Plus, Alabama does not with the National Championship every year. Every other year, sure, but there’s enough intrigue that the title game is the biggest sporting event in America each January.

So instead of thinking that Alabama is killing college football, consider how the Tide is saving it.

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