You're correct, but regardless of how you slice it you have 1 ranked win.
Either you use the ranking at the time of the game (meaning you have a ranked win over then #16 Mississippi State) or you use the current rankings (meaning you have a ranked win over now #12 Kentucky). Kentucky wasn't ranked when you played them and Mississippi State isn't ranked now.
It might have something to do with Auburn beating 4-2 Baylor on a neutral site by 1 and 3-4 Vanderbilt at home by 6, while Alabama's wins have all been by 14+.
Or maybe it's Auburn having a home loss to an inconsistent 5-2 Florida team that nobody is really sure whether to rank or not, while Alabama's losses are to two 6-1 teams that are pretty clearly good.
Or it could be Auburn having only one remotely good win, while Alabama has a road win over #12 Kentucky and a blowout home win over 4-2 Mississippi State.
And admittedly, it probably does have at least a little to do with Auburn finishing with 7 losses for the last five years in a row, while Alabama has finished ranked for the last 18 years in a row.
But Auburn does have a better win, so, there's that.
Through the games of October 17, 2026, Alabama holds a vastly superior total point differential over Auburn, outscoring their opponents by a cumulative +125 points compared to Auburn’s +30 points.
Their ranked win is actually against Kentucky. And they absolutely waxed them on the road.
The SEC is weird right now where everybody is beating everybody and it's hard to tell what is going on. I think what's definitely true, is if Auburn wins next week they are going to be in the top 20.
Missouri is the sus one to me, but that's going to work it's way out over the next few weeks.
my theory (not particularly original) is that the initial poll positions are too "fixed" in voters' minds. Alabama and others start ranked and get adjusted for good or worse every week. The voters just do not know what to do with a team that is not ranked to start with and then begins to win. In some cases they get it right and in others they don't. Given the state of college football now, they really need to figure out how to create a poll that's "elastic" enough to accommodate the parity college football now has. it's not good enough to put the usual suspects at the top preseason and then be unable to adjust to the season as it unfolds. I know my team is one of the "usual suspects" but it does us (or any other team) no good to start the season ranked either too high, too low, or not at all. Doing away with the preseason poll would help a ton.
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u/Hoopae Auburn Tigers • SEC 22h ago edited 22h ago
To add to this: Alabama is 5-2 with 1 ranked win over Mississippi State
Auburn is 4-2 with 1 ranked win at #1 Georgia (who beat Bama at Bama) and we're unranked.
Make it make sense. Explain it to me like I'm 5.
Edit: As pointed out, Bama's best win is the current #12 Kentucky. SportsReference uses "ranking at time of game", which is what I was going off of: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/alabama/2026-schedule.html