Alabama receives zero first-place votes in USA Today's preseason coaches poll

As everyone in the country flies toward the 2024 college football season, USA Today released its annual Preseason Coaches Poll.

Unsurprisingly, Georgia, Ohio State, and Oregon lead the pack, in that order.

The top three are followed by the Texas Longhorns at No. 4 and the Alabama Crimson Tide at No. 5.

The surprising part?

Alabama received zero first-place votes.

This is the lowest ranking Alabama has seen since they wont the National Championship over the Texas Longhorns in 2009, earning a top-three spot over the last 14 seasons.

Sure, a No. 5 spot in the poll isn't anything to shrug at, it's a great spot for the Tide to be at heading into the season.

However, as premiere head coach Kalen DeBoer and returning starting quarterback Jalen Milroe prepare for the year ahead, it has to be pretty disappointing.

For the past decade and a half, Alabama has dominated college football, appearing in eight of the 10 College Football Playoffs, earning a spot in six National Championship games, and winning three of them.

The loss of Nick Saban at the end of the 2023 season followed by the loss of elite players to the NFL Draft certainly had its effect on the Tide's ranking.

Additionally, the Tide has just five returning starters from the team that Saban put on the field for the 2023 SEC Championship game.

This Alabama team is going to look very different. The college football scene is going to look very different. The SEC is going to look very different.

So, at the end of the day, it just makes sense that the first place votes for the coaches preseason poll look very different.

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