It is time for confidence to start building for Alabama Football in the 2023 season. At 60 or so days away from the home opener in Tuscaloosa, the national wave of de-valuing the Crimson Tide has ebbed.
The strongest indication of a shift came from Kirk Herbstreit who said several days ago, he is leaning toward picking the Tide to win it all.
"Just when you think Nick Saban and Alabama are done they’ll come back and win it all. I haven’t really dug in, I’m already leaning to Alabama winning the national championship."
Herbstreit is not the only source of optimism about the Crimson Tide. When Athlon predicted the 2023 SEC regular season standings, it was the Crimson Tide and Georgia projected to meet again in Atlanta. Athlon has Alabama going undefeated in SEC regular season play. Their prediction has LSU at No. 2 in the last season of the SEC West, with the Bengal Tigers losing two SEC games. Whether LSU loses one or two SEC games matters little if Athlon is correct in predicting a Bama win over the Bengal Tigers and the Tennessee Vols in Tuscaloosa.
With Athlon not predicting Alabama Football to run the regular season table, the loss would be in Tuscaloosa against Texas.
On3’s, Barkley Truax reported on observations from an anonymous coach about the 2023 Alabama Crimson Tide.
- “By Alabama standards right now, they’re not as talented compared to previous teams, but they’re Alabama, so they’re going to have a guy that you forgot about from recruiting who breaks out and then some other five-star who finally got to the top of the depth chart. There will also be some dominant new name in the front seven by mid-season, just watch.”
- “(Tommy) Rees is under more pressure than he realizes. It doesn’t matter that he came from Notre Dame, which is crazy to say, but that’s Alabama. I don’t think you can look at a lot of his Notre Dame stuff as a preview, though. He’s going to have way, way more depth at skill positions here. Different game entirely.”
As Josh Pate said recently, questions about talent deficiencies in the Alabama football roster are off the mark. Every college football roster has some weaknesses. Alabama may have fewer than any other team.
Those doubting the Crimson Tide’s championship potential are best ignored. Fortunately, college football starts back next month and can drown out such nonsense.