Alabama Football: Bowl predictions project Tide to National Championship
By Dakota Cox
It was hard to see Alabama football outside of the College Football Playoff last season, but someone believes the Tide will be back in the National Championship.
In the College Football Playoff era, we were used to seeing Alabama football every year. That’s what made last season so depressing for Crimson Tide fans. After four straight years of playing in the National Championship, Alabama was out of contention before conference championship games were even played. However, someone over at Saturday Blitz believes that they will be back in the CFP party this season.
In Aaron Gershon’s way-too-early bowl game predictions, he had the Crimson Tide as the 2-seed in the College Football Playoff behind the Clemson Tigers. To fill out the playoff bracket, Ohio State was the 3-seed and the Florida Gators were No. 4.
Gershon also predicted for Alabama football to beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and play against Clemson in the national championship. This would be the fifth meeting between the Tide and Tigers in the College Football Playoff since its conception, and the fourth in the national championship game.
If the Crimson Tide want to prove Gershon right, they will have to get through an incredibly tough schedule. They have games against USC, Georgia, LSU, and Auburn on their slate, with only two of those games being at home. They will also have games against improved teams like Mississippi State, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. This would also presumably mean Alabama football won the SEC Championship game against either Georgia or Florida.
In Gershon’s predictions, he has USC and the LSU Tigers making it to the Sugar Bowl, validating Alabama’s slot in the College Football Playoff. He also had 12 of the 14 SEC teams making a bowl game, including 6 of the 7 teams in the SEC West.
Alabama football will be at the forefront of college football once again, but their path to the CFP is not a guarantee. They have plenty of holes to fill on both sides of the ball. Thankfully, they has multiple players at key positions return unexpected for senior seasons. Najee Harris, DeVonta Smith, Alex Leatherwood, and Dylan Moses could have all been drafted in the first round, so their return to college will make the Crimson Tide stronger.
It will be over half a year before we know if Alabama football made it back to the National Championship, but Tide fans can hope.