This week was perfect for Alabama football
Only so much can be controlled by one team. You prepare for your game, but luck plays a factor as the other teams play theirs. This week, Alabama football got about as lucky as possible. They dominated against the Miami Hurricanes, but they also saw favorable outcomes across the country.
When you look at the Tide’s own game, almost everything went right. Alabama had plenty of new starters on offense, and they all flourished. Bryce Young set records in his starting debut. Jameson Williams had one of the longest plays in Alabama football history. The defense smothered D’Eriq King and the Miami offense. Outside of the injuries, this game was perfect for the Tide.
Outside of that, Alabama football caught some lucky breaks. Ohio State won their game, but they did not look like the same title-contending team we saw last season. We also saw struggle performances by Oklahoma, Iowa State and Oregon. LSU, Wisconsin, Indiana and Washington all got upset as well. None of these teams look like Playoff contenders, which will help Alabama football if things get messy at the end of the season.
The game of the weekend was clearly between Georgia and Clemson. The outcome was the best-case scenario for the Tide. Georgia won, but neither offense looked balanced. Clemson appears to have their worst team since before Deshaun Watson, and neither team scored an offensive touchdown. Clearly, there is room for things to change. The fact remains that Alabama football looks leaps and bounds ahead of the competition at this point.
If Alabama wants to win a national title, they will almost certainly have to play against Georgia in the SEC Championship. A loss against Clemson wouldn’t have changed that. However, Clemson now has to go undefeated to make the CFP, and that still may not be enough.
Alabama still has to execute, but they have the clearest path to a title at this point in the year. It is still early, but this week was ideal for Tide fans.