Pick whichever college football poll or ranking you want…there’s only one which keeps things simple and not subjective. Here at Dubsism, we apply the “boxing” rule to college football; you’re the “Champ” until somebody beats you.

In 2020, the Alabama Crimson Tide unified all those titles by topping both Associated Press and the Coaches Polls, then wrested the Dubsism belt from the waist of the Auburn Tigers. Since that day in November, the Tide have mounted five successful titles of that belt; the last also making them the College Football Play-Off National Champions.

• 1564 : 2021 11-Jan : Alabama 52 , Ohio State 24
• 1563 : 2021 1-Jan : Alabama 31 , Notre Dame 14
• 1562 : 2020 19-Dec : Alabama 52 , Florida 46
• 1561 : 2020 12-Dec : Alabama 52 , Arkansas 3
• 1560 : 2020 5-Dec : Alabama 55 , Louisiana State 17
• 1559 : 2020 28-Nov : Alabama 42 , Auburn 13

But the purpose of this post is to look forward, not back (which by the way, if you want to do some mega-scrolling, you can see here the entire history of the Dubsism belt prior to Alabama’s 11th and current championship). Alabama has hung on to the belt to start the 2021 campaign, but the question is can anybody take it from them?

As tends to be the case, it looks likely the belt is going to stay in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) for the regular season. The opener against the Miami Hurricanes looks to be the best shot for the belt to change conferences, but for those of you who can’t resist a long shot, keep your eyes on the lines for those Southern Mississippi and New Mexico State tilts.

Alabama’s 2021 Regular Season Schedule

• 9/4: @ Miami (FL)
• 9/11: Mercer (non-title)
• 9/18: @ Florida
• 9/25: Southern Mississippi
• 10/2: Mississippi
• 10/9: @ Texas A&M
• 10/15:@ Mississippi State
• 10/23: Tennessee
• 11/6: @ Louisiana State
• 11/13: New Mexico State
• 11/20: Arkansas
• 11/27: @ Auburn

Inside the SEC, the first “real” threat looms in Alabama’s second trip to the Sunshine State to face the Florida Gators. Three weeks later comes a trip to Texas A&M where the Aggies at Kyle Field are never an accommodating host. In another three weeks the Tide take on the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge. Beyond that, anything can happen when it comes to the annual Iron Bowl battle with Auburn.

Then again, this all assumes Alabama doesn’t lose the belt somewhere along the way. We watched it change hands eight times in 2020, which was easily a single-season record. In other words, your guess is as good as ours, so let’s see what you think…

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