Another college football season will start with everyone chasing the Tide, including Michigan and Michigan State.
Alabama is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll for fourth time in the past six seasons. The Wolverines and Spartans, meanwhile, will open the season unranked.
Coming off its sixth national championship under Nick Saban, the Crimson Tide enters the season loaded with potential replacements for the record-breakers and NFL draft picks who have moved on, including Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith.
Alabama received 47 of 63 first-place votes from the panel of sports writers and broadcasters in the poll presented by Regions Bank.