Mo Brooks gets ‘worst sign of all’ in Senate primary – ignored by opponents
As Oscar Wilde once said, “There’s only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” Struggling for relevance in next week’s Alabama GOP Senate primary, Congressman Mo Brooks is beginning to appreciate what Wilde was saying. After a month of battling criticism from supporters of sitting Sen. Luther Strange, the Huntsville Republican is receiving what POLITICO reporter Daniel Strauss calls the “worst sign of all” … attacks against him are beginning to slow down. Strange and the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC connected to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are now turning most of their negative advertising to attack former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in advance of Tuesday’s primary. It is a clear sign that Brooks’ “outspent, insurgent campaign” may have stalled against candidates with better name recognition. “I’ve seen a number of polls, and every poll I’ve seen has Luther leading Roy Moore by between 3 and 5 points. Mo at one time was up to about 20 [percent],” Perry Hooper, former co-chairman of the Alabama Trump campaign (and a Strange supporter) told POLITICO. “The last I’ve seen has him at 15, 16 [percent]. I guess anything can happen, but the trend looks like people like what Luther has been doing.” Indeed, the Montgomery Advertiser reported Friday on a most recent poll of 426 likely Republican voters, with Moore hanging onto a narrow lead over Strange, 31 percent to 29 percent. The race for first place was within the poll’s 5 percent margin of error. Brooks came in third at 18 percent; state Sen. Trip Pittman of Baldwin County received 8 percent, and Alabama Christian Coalition president Randy Brinson took 2 percent. Eleven percent are undecided. Other Republican candidates on the ballot include Dr. James Beretta, Joseph Breault, Mary Maxwell and Bryan Peeples. The race will most likely result in a Sept. 26 runoff between the two top vote-getters, since it appears that neither Strange nor Moore will receive a majority. The last day for Alabama voters to apply for an absentee ballot for the primary is Thursday.
Alabama, SEC trying to climb back to college football summit
Alabama and the Southeastern Conference are trying to climb back atop the college football mountain. The SEC was toppled— at least temporarily — from that summit by the Atlantic Coast Conference last season. A powerhouse Crimson Tide team has a much shorter climb back after a down-to-the-last-breath loss to the ACC’s Clemson in the national championship game . ‘Bama has won 17 consecutive SEC games by an average of 21 points but coach Nick Saban insists “there’s a lot of parity in our league.” Despite Saban’s perspective, there’s no debating that the battle for No. 2 has been more heated than the competition for the top spot the past few seasons. Exhibit A: Alabama’s 54-16 win over Florida in the last SEC championship game. Alabama remains the decisive favorite to win a fourth consecutive SEC title despite losing four first-round NFL draft picks. No team has won the league four times in a row — or three for that matter before the Tide’s run — since Steve Spurrier and Florida dominated from 1993-96. The first test might just be Alabama’s biggest of the regular season. The Tide opens with another ACC power, Florida State, in Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “All the guys that did play in that (Clemson) game are really hungry to get back out there and play and show the world that we are one of the top teams in the nation,” ‘Bama receiver Calvin Ridley said. Quarterback Jalen Hurts, the SEC offensive player of the year, gives Saban a returning starter at quarterback for the first time since 2013. He heads a group of promising young passers including Georgia’s Jacob Eason, Mississippi’s Shea Patterson and South Carolina’s Jake Bentley. Not to mention transfers Jarrett Stidham at Auburn and Malik Zaire at Florida . In the SEC West, teams like LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn are trying to play catch up to the Tide. Georgia, Florida and Tennessee are among the East Division teams hoping to close the gap with their West counterparts, who have held an eight-year monopoly on SEC titles . The Gators have won the East crown in each of coach Jim McElwain‘s first two seasons but are aiming higher. “Getting that taste of nine wins, we now want to get more than that,” Florida defensive back Duke Dawson said. THE FAVORITES East: Georgia. Kirby Smart‘s second team has a strong backfield with Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, and Eason has a year of seasoning. LB Roquan Smith is among 10 returning defensive starters. West: Alabama. Like Eason, Hurts has big-time backs — plus star receiver Ridley — to target. The defense has seven NFL draft picks to replace but also returning standouts like defensive backs Minkah Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Harrison and tackle Da’Ron Payne. TOP PLAYERS Minkah Fitzpatrick, DB, Alabama. Versatile defender could play either safety or cornerback. Derrius Guice, RB, LSU. Leonard Fournette‘s backfield mate has center stage to himself. Hurts. The Tide is expecting him to be a better passer after an impressive freshman season somewhat marred by late-season struggles, especially in the playoffs. Arden Key, LB, LSU. Had 12 sacks last season. Missed spring practice for unspecified personal reasons. Christian Kirk, WR/RS, Texas A&M. Led the nation with three punt returns for touchdowns. His 83 catches topped the SEC, producing 928 yards and nine touchdowns. Frank Ragnow, C, Arkansas. Hasn’t allowed a sack the past two seasons and has started 26 straight games. NEW FACES Ex-Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron is back in the SEC West at LSU. His former program is trying to regroup from the July 20 resignation of Hugh Freeze while in the final stretch of an NCAA investigation. Interim coach and co-offensive coordinator Matt Luke is leading the Rebels. Alabama offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has been a much talked-about hire. ON THE HOT SEAT Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin is trying to avoid another November slump after three straight 8-5 seasons. Auburn’s Gus Malzahn hasn’t beaten top rivals Georgia and Alabama in three seasons. Getting warmish: Arkansas’ Bret Bielema and Tennessee’s Butch Jones. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
SEC faces strong challenges as college football’s top dog
When LSU’s Ed Orgeron matter of factly declared the SEC as “the best conference in the United States,” he was mostly preaching to the choir in the league’s backyard. But the Southeastern Conference’s once-undisputed status as college football’s top league is facing strong challenges from both the ACC and Big Ten despite Alabama’s best efforts. The Crimson Tide certainly remains formidable as ever, if not invincible, at the top. Beyond that, there’s plenty of uncertainty — and in some cases mediocrity — in a league that won seven straight national titles from 2006-12. “If you’re trying to hit a moving target on this date and say, ‘Is the SEC the best league right now?’, the answer is no,” SEC Network analyst and talk show host Paul Finebaum said Tuesday at media days. “I think it’s probably the ACC. It’s marginal and you can come back and say, ‘Yeah but…’ “Results matter, and the SEC has lost two times in the last four years to the ACC.” Clemson toppled the Tide on a last-second touchdown at the national championship game in January. Florida State claimed the title with a win over Auburn four years earlier. The ACC isn’t the only league mounting a challenge to the league’s supremacy. The Big Ten finished with four teams ranked in the Top 10 in the final AP poll. The league did go 3-7 in bowl games. The ACC enjoyed an 8-3 postseason romp while the SEC’s 12 bowl teams managed just a .500 postseason record. The SEC sent a four-loss Auburn team to the Sugar Bowl, its most prominent non-playoff game. The Tigers lost 35-19 to Oklahoma. Still, SEC teams are faring well on the recruiting trail, with half of the top 12 signing classes in the 247Sports composite rankings this year. Alabama was No. 1 and Georgia only two spots back. For Finebaum, the difference comes down to the head coaches. The ACC has national championship coaches in Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher, along with ex-SEC head men Mark Richt (Miami) and Bobby Petrino (Louisville). The Big Ten starts with Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, who led Florida to a pair of national titles, and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh topping the pecking order. The days of a Steve Spurrier-Saban-Meyer SEC coaching Mount Rushmore are past. “What do you have now in the SEC? I mean, after Saban, who’s next?” Finebaum said. “There’s no clear second-best coach. And even if you come up with that answer, it’s not concrete.” What is concrete: The ACC held the upper hand last season. That league went 10-4 against SEC teams and won four of five postseason games. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey gets philosophical when asked whether the league has slipped, even quoting a longtime manager of Manchester United. “That’s the nature of competitive endeavors — they’re very close,” Sankey said. “There’s a quote from Sir Alex Ferguson that I read that says in a fiercely competitive endeavor things aren’t decided until the bitter end. So you accept that. But I don’t at all think that’s a representation of slippage. “Our commitment is high, but you’re in a competitive endeavor. You want to win them all, but sometimes you don’t.” There does seem to be a wider disparity between ‘Bama and the rest of the league than among the top conferences. Alabama has won 17 consecutive SEC games, all but three by double-digit margins. A 54-16 dismantling of Florida in the SEC championship game would indicate a sizable distance between the Tide and the rest of the league, though rival coaches are mostly unwilling to measure that gap. “I don’t know the gap itself,” said Gators coach Jim McElwain, a former Alabama offensive coordinator. “I do understand this, they’re right now at the top. It’s up to the rest of us to go get ’em.” It’s clear the rest of the league — like the vast majority of programs — has been lagging well behind Alabama. Georgia coach Kirby Smart, a former Tide defensive coordinator, said the key to closing that gap will be not just recruiting top players but developing them once they arrive on campus. “When you do both, that’s when you got something special,” Smart said. “And I think every team in this conference is trying to play catch-up in regards to that. “I think each one’s getting closer, and we’d like to see that gap closed through recruiting.” And maybe, as a result, once again widen the gap between the SEC and other conferences. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Alabama ranked near bottom of list of best states for startups, small business
A financial website ranks Alabama as one of the least favorable places for starting a business in the U.S. The study announced this week by personal finance website WalletHub ranks Alabama as the 42nd best state for startups in 2017. Grading on a 100-point scale, WalletHub used 20 key indicators of startup success to come up with its “2017 Best & Worst States to Start a Business,” averaging the score on each — with 100 being best. Metrics include office space expense, incentive spending, financing, an average length of the workweek, availability of human capital and the growth in the number of small businesses. On that scale, Alabama scored 40.92 points — last in Business Environment, 31st in Access to Resources and ninth in Business Costs. Alabama is among the bottom five states with the lowest average growth in the number of small businesses. However, the Yellowhammer State ranked in the top five for lowest labor costs, along with four other Southern states. In relation to some of its neighbors, Alabama listed at or near the bottom: Florida is sixth, Georgia is eighth; Tennessee and Mississippi were 27th and 28th respectively. Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey ranked lowest overall. The company also asked a panel of nine experts for their business insights on four key questions: Do you believe that the economic policies being pursued by the Trump administration will promote new-business development? To what extent do state policies, such as corporate tax rates, influence decisions about whether and where to start a new business? Are tax breaks and other incentives to encourage new businesses on net a good or bad investment for states? What measures can state authorities undertake in order to encourage entrepreneurs to start new businesses in their state? Answers are available at WalletHub.com. Source: WalletHub
California enacts travel ban to Alabama, citing LGBTQ discrimination
Alabama is off-limits for state-funded visits from California, one of four states facing a travel ban because of recent “discriminatory legislation” affecting the LGBTQ community. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Friday he is adding Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota and Texas to Assembly Bill AB 1887. Each state passed “discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people” in 2017. Enacted Jan. 1, 2017, AB 1887 prohibits state-sponsored or state-funded visits from California “state agencies, departments, boards, authorities and commissions, including an agency, department, board, authority, or commission of the University of California, the Board of Regents of the University of California, and the California State University.” “Our country has made great strides in dismantling prejudicial laws that have deprived too many of our fellow Americans of their precious rights,” Becerra said. “Sadly, that is not the case in all parts of our nation, even in the 21st century.” The four states join Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee. “While the California DOJ works to protect the rights of all our people, discriminatory laws in any part of our country send all of us several steps back,” Becerra said. “That’s why when California said we would not tolerate discrimination against LGBTQ members of our community, we meant it.” Becerra specified the reason each state made the list: Alabama: HB 24 was enacted May 2, 2017. HB 24 could prevent qualified prospective lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents from adopting or serving as foster parents. Kentucky: SB 17 was enacted March 16, 2017. SB 17 could allow student-run organizations in colleges and K-12 schools to discriminate against classmates based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. South Dakota: SB 149 was enacted March 10, 2017. SB 149 could prevent qualified lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples from adopting or serving as foster parents. Texas: HB 3859 was enacted June 15, 2017. HB 3859, allows foster care agencies to discriminate against children in foster care and potentially disqualify lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families from the state’s foster and adoption system. Despite the travel ban, the Sept. 9 Tuscaloosa home game of University of Alabama against Fresno State — officially known as California State University — Fresno — will go on as planned. In June 2015, Alabama agreed to pay Fresno State $1.4 million in a deal to play in Tuscaloosa. A Fresno State spokesman told AL.com Friday that the Bulldogs’ game with Alabama will not be impacted. AB 1887 exempts travel on contractual obligations made before Jan. 1, the date the bill was enacted.
Alabama unemployment rate drops to lowest level since 2008
Alabama’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since 2008 as the number of people with jobs grew, officials said Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in May, down from 5.4 percent last month, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington announced at a Capitol news conference. Despite the improvement, Alabama continues to struggle with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. The new level would have allowed Ivey’s predecessor, former Gov. Robert Bentley, to take a salary for the first time, had he stayed in office. Bentley made a 2010 campaign promise to forgo a paycheck until Alabama returned to “full unemployment,” a figure he defined as 5.2 percent. In six years in office, Bentley never collected a paycheck as the state struggled to shake off the impact of the great recession. Ivey became governor in April when Bentley resigned amid a push to impeach him over ethics allegations. Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said the state added 13,100 jobs in May, with nearly half of those coming in the leisure and hospitality sector. He said growing employment is a sign of increased confidence in the economy. “Fifty thousand more people have jobs now than they did last year,” Washington said. The state continued to see a wide disparity in the unemployment rates between counties. Shelby County had the lowest unemployment rate: 3.1 percent. Wilcox County had the highest: 10.9 percent. Alabama continues to struggle with higher unemployment than most other states. Only 11 states in May had unemployment rates that were the same, or worse, than Alabama’s, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The nationwide unemployment rate is at a 16-year low of 4.3 percent. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Facebook co-founder, CEO Mark Zuckerberg kicks-off nationwide tour with visit to Alabama
The founder of Facebook made a special visit to Alabama over the weekend. Mark Zuckerberg, 32, passed through the Yellowhammer State a road trip across the country as part of a challenge to visit all 50 states with his wife Priscilla Chan. This week they’re touring the South. While in the Yellowhammer State, the couple spent their time eating shrimp, listening to stories from local business owners, fishermen, oyster farmers on Saturday, and even taking attending a local church service in downtown Mobile on Sunday. They also watched the Mobile Mardi Gras parade and talked to families affected by the BP oil spill and Hurricane Katrina. “We had lunch with Dominick Ficarino, a fourth generation shrimper, and workers from the local fishing business right on the dock… One of the families we met were the Zirlotts — they run an oyster farm and are succeeding by using Facebook and Instagram to show their product directly to chefs,” the digital media mogul said on his personal Facebook page. He concluded, “We are all part of many communities. The strength of these local communities is what makes up our social fabric and that’s what enables us to come together as a global community as well.” On Monday, Zuckerberg continued his ventures in Selma where he checked out the Selma Time-Journal building. Zuckerberg’s US-trip has many across the country scratching their heads, asking themselves once again if the media mogul is gearing up for a 2020 presidential run against incumbent President Donald Trump. Zuckerberg shot down similar rumors in late January, saying he’s “focused on building our community at Facebook and working on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative,” which funds science and education. Only time will tell if that sticks.
Former Alabama governor Don Siegelman released from federal prison
Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman has been released from a federal prison in Louisiana where he was serving a six-year sentence for bribery and obstruction of justice. Longtime aide Chip Hill said Siegelman’s brother received a call Wednesday morning confirming his release. Federal prison officials are driving Siegelman to the probation office in Birmingham. He is expected to go home on house arrest. A federal jury in 2006 convicted Siegelman of selling an appointment to a state health board in exchange for donations to his 1999 campaign for a state lottery. Siegelman’s supporters cheered the release of the 70-year-old Democrat who for decades was a dominating figure in state politics. Hill said the former governor’s friends and family are “very excited about his release and very much look forward to seeing him.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Florida ports drop trade with Cuba, Port of Mobile to pick up slack
Alabama officials were in Tampa Thursday to ink a trade agreement with Cuba, one that Florida ports cannot. Seaports in Mobile and Havana are agreeing to do business in the future in a deal similar to one that had been between three ports in Florida. That is until last week, when Gov. Rick Scott threatened to pull funding to ports shipping to Cuba. John Kavulich, president of the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, told the Tampa Bay Times: “This feels like Cuba’s way of saying if Florida doesn’t want our business, Alabama does … And they are coming onto your turf to do it.” Representatives for Alabama and Cuba were attending “Planning for Shifting Trade,” an international conference sponsored by the American Association of Port Authorities, held at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina. So far, the U.S. allows only a limited number of exports to Cuba, which is still under a trade embargo imposed half a century ago after Cuban leader Fidel Castro established communism on the island nation. A 2000 law allows some exceptions, such as agricultural goods and food. Castro died in November 2016. Mobile has the fifth highest number of exports to Cuba among U.S. ports, Kavulich told the Times. Currently, Tampa ports send no shipments to Cuba.
Donald Trump’s voter fraud expert registered in 3 states
A man who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press has learned. Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states. He voted only in Alabama in November, records show. In a post earlier this month, Phillips described “an amazing effort” by volunteers tied to True the Vote, an organization whose board he sits on, who he said found “thousands of duplicate records and registrations of dead people.” Trump has made an issue of people who are registered to vote in more than one state, using it as one of the bedrocks of his overall contention that voter fraud is rampant in the U.S. and that voting by 3 to 5 million immigrants illegally in the country cost him the popular vote in November. The AP found that Phillips was registered in Alabama and Texas under the name Gregg Allen Phillips, with the identical Social Security number. Mississippi records list him under the name Gregg A. Phillips, and that record includes the final four digits of Phillips’ Social Security number, his correct date of birth and a prior address matching one once attached to Gregg Allen Phillips. He has lived in all three states. At the time of November’s presidential election, Phillips’ status was “inactive” in Mississippi and suspended in Texas. Officials in both states told the AP that Phillips could have voted, however, by producing identification and updating his address at the polls. Citing concerns about voters registered in several states, the president last week called for a major investigation into his claim of voter fraud, despite his campaign lawyer’s conclusion that the 2016 election was “not tainted.” “When you look at the people that are registered, dead, illegal and two states, and some cases maybe three states, we have a lot to look into,” Trump said in an ABC interview. Reached by telephone Monday, Phillips said he was unaware of his multiple registrations but asked, “Why would I know or care?” “Doesn’t that just demonstrate how broken the system is?” he asked. “That is not fraud — that is a broken system. We need a national ID that travels with people.” Phillips has been in the national spotlight since Nov. 11, when he tweeted without evidence that his completed analysis of voter registrations concluded the “number of non-citizen votes exceeded 3 million.” Thousands of people liked and retweeted the claim, which led to a viral article three days later on InfoWars.com, a site known to traffic in conspiracy theories. Phillips also has previously tweeted about the dangers of “inactive voters” being able to vote in U.S. elections. “There is already law that compels states to remove inactive voters. Many don’t,” Phillips tweeted Nov. 29. According to media reports, five Trump family members or top administration officials also were registered to vote in two states during the 2016 election — chief White House strategist Stephen Bannon; Press Secretary Sean Spicer; Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin; Tiffany Trump, the president’s youngest daughter; and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser. The Houston-based True the Vote has challenged the validity of voter rolls in numerous states. On Friday, Phillips tweeted that the conservative group “will lead the analysis” of widespread voter fraud, and suggested in a CNN interview that it might release the underlying data in a few months. Shortly after Phillips appeared on CNN on Friday, Trump tweeted: “Look forward to seeing the final results of VoteStand. Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal. We must do better!” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Gary Shelton: Even in loss, Alabama is still football royalty
Now about this: They lost, which doesn’t happen often. They gave up the winning touchdown late, which is rare. Their defense gave out of gas, which was amazing to see. Still, in all, the University of Alabama is still one of the nation’s premier football teams as far as legacy. Before you chide the Tide, think of it this way: What other program would dare to be disappointed by finishing second in the nation. Ah, but Alabama is the home of national championships, houndstooth hats and lore. And know this: When the Tide lose, it’s generally because another legend has been born. The Tide had never faced a quarterback like Watson in any of their national championship seasons. Monday night, it was Deshaun Watson, who led Clemson on an incredible comeback. In two years, Watson has thrown for 825 yards and seven touchdowns. What other quarterback has ever done that on a national stage? Still, Alabama’s place in college football is likely to be unchanged. Who would you pick as next year’s national champion? ESPN says Alabama. So does Bleacher Report. How about the year after? The year after that? As long as Nick Saban is steering the machine, the Tide is expected to be elite. It has always been this way. In one poll or another, Alabama has won a version of 16 national championships. Wallace Wade. Frank Thomas. Bear Bryant. Gene Stallings. Saban. The first beat I ever had in journalism as Alabama. I covered Bryant’s last two titles at the school, and there was no other place quite like it. The Tide came opponents in waves, with their tearaway jerseys and Bryant’s leather-skin and his smoke-tinged voice. Alabama had too much defense, too much precision on offense, too many players, too much history. Bryant would win six titles, and although his team lost its bowl games in 1964 and 1973, people tend to forget 1966. That year, the Tide was a two-time defending champion and the only unbeaten and untied team in the country … and finished third after Notre Dame and Michigan State played to a tie. Eventually, Bryant has morphed into Saban who, frankly, has it harder. In his early years, Bryant could lose a bowl game and still win a national title. He lost to Southern Cal in the 1978 regular season, but earned a split. He never had to negotiate a playoff run, which can be tricky. Still, Saban has been successful with a distinct formula. The Tide plays superb defense. It usually has a great running back. And it often plays around its quarterback. This time, freshman Jalen Hurts wasn’t good enough. What both Bryant and Saban did was win most of the time. It is still unexpected to see an Alabama coach at the podium following a loss. It’s a sun-setting-in-the-south sort of feeling. Today, the Alabama Crimson Tide is no longer a champion. Just royalty. ___ Gary Shelton is one of the most recognized and honored sportswriters in the history of Florida. He has won the APSE’s national columnist of the year twice and finished in the top 10 eight times. He was named the Florida Sports Writer of the Year six times. Over his time in sports writing, Gary has covered 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics, Final Fours, Masters, Wimbledons and college national championships. He was there when the Bucs won a Super Bowl, when the Lightning won a Stanley Cup and when the Rays went to a World Series. He has seen Florida, FSU and Miami all win national championships, and he covered Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden and Don Shula along the way. He and his wife Janet have four children: Eric, Kevin, K.C. and Tori. To contact, visit garysheltonsports@gmail.com
FiveThirtyEight ranks Alabama strongest college football team in history
Alabama beat Florida in Saturday’s SEC conference championship game, securing a spot in the College Football Playoff, and becoming the greatest college team of the past 80 years. The Crimson Tide needed to defeat Florida by 11 or more points to surpass the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers for No. 1, according to FiveThirtyEight’s Elo power rating. In fact, they whipped the Gators by 38 points, putting ’Bama ahead of any team in the history of The Associated Press poll, which began in 1936. For many college teams, the pinnacle of this year’s Elo ranking coincided with the end of the schedule. However, in the case of Alabama, the Crimson Tide needed to be both Washington and in the winter of the Clemson-Ohio State game to become this year’s national champ. If they didn’t, says Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight, Alabama would’ve peaked a bit too soon. Nevertheless, FiveThirtyEight.com notes that Nick Saban can now boast that his 2016 Alabama team is now the strongest team in the modern college football era.
