Alabama Football: 3 things we learned from the 2020 season

What we learned from Alabama football’s 2020 season

2. Offense might just win championships

At the beginning of the Nick Saban era, defense reigned supreme. They carried Alabama football through average-at-best seasons offensively and smothered some of the best players of college football. From Tim Tebow to Leonard Fournette, Alabama stopped some of the best offensive players in college football.

Ever since Tua Tagovailoa joined the team, this narrative has flipped. Alabama is now home to one of the best offenses every season, and 2020 was no different.

However, it felt as if the 2018 and 2019 offenses were wasted due to poor defensive play, and fans were worried that we couldn’t win without the smothering defense we used to sing about around the campfire.

2020 showed us that we didn’t need an elite defense to win a ring. We just needed an improved defense. The 2020 defense was underrated, but they still had holes. They struggled with running backs in the passing game. Sack production didn’t tick up until the second half of the season. The secondary was incredibly young.

This defense wouldn’t have won a title with the offenses of the past. However, they did more than enough to contribute alongside one of the best offenses in the history of the sport. Because of that, fans no longer should worry about comparing the defense to the best of the Saban era. We’ll likely never get back to that level. As long as the defense can contribute some and the offense can flourish, Alabama will be in contention to win it all.