OCT. 19 COLUMN: No. 1 won’t mean much unless you finish No. 1

In a couple of weeks, the 1000th Associated Press college football poll of all time will be issued.

Of those polls, roughly 72 have meant something. That’s because they have come at the end of the season. The other 928 have been fun to look at, but haven’t proven a thing.

Take that as preface to Sunday’s news that Alabama has overtaken Florida for the top spot in this week’s AP poll, snapping the Gators’ season-long grip on the top spot. If it means anything at all, other than conveying a good feeling among Crimson Tide fans and irking a few Florida fans, it probably means a little bit more attention for the Crimson Tide.

The way the current system has evolved, the AP poll really isn’t the most important ranking. It isn’t a component of the BCS any more, and while the team that gets voted on top of the AP poll can proclaim itself as “a national champion,” most people consider the BCS winner as “the” national champion.

Certainly, Nick Saban, whose 2003 LSU team won the BCS Championship but was not the No. 1 team in the final AP poll (USC was, and it wasn’t really close with the Trojans getting 48 of the 65 available first-place votes), is in the “doesn’t mean much” camp. And most of America is with him, because most people outside of metro Los Angeles would probably say that LSU was No. 1 in 2003.

Whatever Saban might say about that final poll, it’s a dead certainty he would regard today’s poll as an “external factor.”

It doesn’t help Alabama win games — another Saban measuring stick. In fact, it might arguably hinder that, since a future opponent might hypothetically play harder against a No. 1-ranked Alabama than a No. 2-ranked Alabama. It’s hard to believe that would really matter to Tennessee, or LSU, or Auburn, all of which will have plenty of motivation.

And, in a final reality check, remember Alabama spent the second half of the 2008 regular season atop the AP Poll and didn’t even get a pat on the head for it after losing in Atlanta.

Having injected an ample dose of reality into the No. 1 news, let’s note there are a few nice things about it.

It’s a reflection that Alabama has taken care of business each week without any significant scares, enabling it to move slowly but steadily to the top. It’s quite a compliment to the Alabama defense, considering that, over the course of two weeks, the Crimson Tide has gone from No. 3 to No. 2 to No. 1 (with no one ahead of them losing) while scoring a grand total of two offensive touchdowns.

And Alabama is one of three teams nationally, along with Florida and Texas, who have control over every single aspect of their destiny with no regard for what happens in any games other than their own.

It’s good public relations for the Southeastern Conference, which continues to dominate the top of the polls.

Perhaps, since it is a reprise of last season, it could also be good to Alabama. Life doesn’t always grant us second chances, particularly not in such a short time frame. Last year, Alabama couldn’t hold on to what it had.

This year, perhaps it can follow along to the text of Saban’s postgame sermon following the Kentucky win, when he frequently referred to “making the right choices” and “maintaining focus.”

If Alabama follows along, then the poll news that came out Sunday will mean something — not because it put Alabama on top in mid-October, but because it marked the start of something that the Crimson Tide was able to finish.