 Heading into the season, the Tide were unranked nationally and were picked to finish fifth in the SEC West in the annual poll of media members who cover SEC football.Most voters expected Alabama to show little improvement over its performance in the previous year.Alabama's first game of the season was against Brigham Young University and was played at a renovated Bryant–Denny Stadium that boasted more than 80,000 seats and a new Jumbotron.