The national reaction to this game showed that Alabama Football still operates on a different standard from the rest of the sport. Sure, Bama didn’t look as good as most of us expected against USF, but the game is 60 minutes long. The Tide played till the final whistle and ultimately won by 26 points.

Still, Alabama was lumped in with other “disappointing” teams by popular national media pundits. These included Notre Dame, who lost at home to Northern Illinois as a top-5 team, as well as Oklahoma, Oregon and Penn State, who quite literally survived against Houston, Boise State, and Bowling Green respectively.

If you missed those other games, Oregon won 37-34 on a field goal as time expired. Oklahoma was outscored 6-2 in the second half by Houston and used a safety to help it hold on for a 16-12 win. Penn State did not take its first lead over Bowling Green until midway through the third quarter and ultimately won 34-27. All three escapees were outgained in total yardage by their opponents.

According to some, Alabama was in that same boat.

CBS Sports’ Sheyan Jeyarajah wrote that “Alabama and Penn State were shockingly pushed to the wire.” ESPN dropped the Tide from no. 4 to no. 7 in its weekly Power Rankings. Several other talking heads and Youtubers also grouped Alabama in with the most disappointing performers of week 2. Need I say again that the Tide won by 26 points?

If nothing else, this is evidence that the college football world continues to hold Alabama to a different standard, even in the post-Nick Saban era. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s fascinating to observe.