The Alabama football program is known for winning championships. If the Crimson Tide isn’t winning them, the team is competing for them, at the very least. Since the College Football Playoff format began in 2014, Nick Saban and Alabama have only failed to make the semi-finals twice, once in 2019 and the other in 2022.
As the Tide looks to return to the College Football Playoffs, it will have to get through a daunting conference schedule. If it survives the regular season and is selected as a top-four team to compete in the CFP, Alabama will likely have to go through more SEC opponents.
ESPN recently shared projections for every conference’s chance at having multiple teams make the playoffs. The SEC leads the way with a 51% chance, the next-highest is the Big Ten with 25%.
While discussing the SEC, four teams are mentioned with legitimate playoff chances: Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and LSU.
Heather Dinich of ESPN writes,
“The committee has shown over the past decade it holds the SEC in high regard, and the conference has had multiple teams reach the playoff before — multiple times. Georgia doesn’t face Alabama or LSU during the regular season, so the SEC avoids a guaranteed loss for what should be one of its three best teams before the SEC championship game. It can happen if Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama or LSU roll through the regular season undefeated but lose in the SEC title game. It can also happen if Alabama doesn’t win the SEC but finishes with one loss and has a win over Big 12 champion Texas. Or if LSU doesn’t win the SEC, but finishes with one loss — at Alabama — and has a win over ACC champ Florida State.”
Alabama has many questions to answer before the start of the 2023 college football season, most notably the quarterback situation. However, the team was loaded with talent in 2022 and suffered two regular-season losses which led to the Tide missing the playoffs. So, only time will tell how this roster performs against an equally-difficult schedule.
The expectation for Alabama is to compete for a championship. Saban preaches focusing on one opponent at a time and not looking too far ahead. Well, with the desire to return to the playoffs, it’ll be hard not to.
With the 2023 season around the corner, fans are just excited about the return of college football, but thinking of Saban hoisting that trophy for championship No. 19 will sit in the back of their minds until next January.
Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow Alabama football as the regular season approaches.
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