The trend of doubting Nick Saban and the Alabama football team continues. Pundits spin groupthink that the Alabama Crimson Tide is no longer in the top three or four SEC teams. Some predict Alabama is headed for a two or three-loss season.
The negative chatter has a purpose. Most of the college football world loves it. Paul Finebaum chided Nick Saban because the Alabama coach talked at SEC Media Days about a long vacation in Italy. Others joined Finebaum in suggesting Saban dodged questions at Media Days because he did not have the right answers.
FanSided’s John Buhler defined Saban’s answers to starting quarterback questions as “terrifying.”
Buhler must have meant Alabama fans should be terrified. Certainly, Nick Saban and the Alabama football staff are as far from terrified as they could be. In addition, Alabama has five former highly touted quarterback recruits vying for the starter role. Their teeth are not chattering. Instead, each one is better described as chomping at the bit for the opportunity.
In reality, Alabama football has unanswered questions going into the 2023 season. Those questions include a starter at QB and two new Coordinators. But more reality is all teams are short on answers to every question.
Alabama Football in 2023
Alabama Football will be different in many ways than it was last season. Replacing arguably the best quarterback and the best defensive player in college football is a huge task. But there is also a positive flip side to replacing Bryce Young and Will Anderson Jr.
Greg McElroy recently labeled Alabama last season as hero ball.
"They were a star-driven entity last year. A team that relied on a star offensively in Bryce Young and a star defensively in Will Anderson. And the other 10 guys that were on offense and defense looked at their star and said ‘That guy is going to bail us out’"
McElroy’s contention is that as the season develops and the Crimson Tide comes together as a team, it stands to be a better team than last season. Given the immense talent throughout the Crimson Tide roster, ‘better’ is more probable than possible. How much better can only be answered through the course of a season.
Any Alabama football fan succumbing to gloom and doom might want to think back to recent history. After Alabama lost to Auburn in the 2019 Iron Bowl, Mac Jones having thrown two pick-sixes, was questioned as a capable successor to Tua Tagovailoa. The 2020 Crimson Tide National Championship season put an end to such folly.