As wild as it sounds, the 2023 Alabama football season may be the most important one of Nick Saban’s career. Not only is the Tide coming off of a tough 2022 campaign that resulted in two losses and missing out on a playoff opportunity, but if the Tide were to not win a national title this year, it would be the first time since Saban took over the reins in Tuscaloosa that he’s gone three years without a ring. Add in the fact that Georgia could three-peat, the stakes have never been higher.
Despite the uncertainties at the quarterback position, the Tide roster hasn’t been this deep in a few years. The defense looks poised to take a massive step forward under new DC Kevin Steele as well as getting back to running the ball behind dominant offensive lines. The good news for Tide fans is that a College Football Playoff appearance in 2023 seems rather likely, but I can’t think of a college football season with as wide open of a race as 2023 will be.
CBS Sports released their pre-season bowl projections, and they currently have Georgia playing Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl and Alabama taking on Michigan in the Rose Bowl.
The Big Ten has fared quite poorly in the CFP, so I think we could very well be looking at another all-SEC Championship game. Alabama leads Michigan all-time 3-2 in their series history with the most recent victory coming in the 2019 Citrus Bowl.
Hypothetically speaking, Kirby Smart and the Dawgs could be looking at a third consecutive national title while Nick Saban fights to reclaim his throne atop college football – it would be an all-time game with a drastic say on who the greatest CFB coach of all time is. A three-peat with two national title wins over Saban opens up a conversation most of us don’t want to have for Smart.
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