Josh Pate's visit to Tuscaloosa and subsequent prediction has Alabama fans buzzing

A lot of analysts are taking a wait-and-see approach with Alabama football this season. Most view the Crimson Tide as a College Football Playoff team, but most won't make the leap to predicting Alabama to win the SEC or be a genuine threat to win the National Championship.

Alabama's disappointing 9-4 season in Kalen DeBoer's debut has some convinced that the Crimson Tide's program is on the downswing. Those folks are liable to be disappointed once toe-meets-leather.

Prominent college football analyst Josh Pate is not one of those people. He's seen all he needs to see to believe that Alabama is a legitimate contender for not just the SEC Championship, but the National Championship.

On the latest episode of Josh Pate's College Football Show, Pate made his predictions for conference champions and the College Football Playoff bracket. Those predictions will have Alabama fans fired up.

Pate predicted Alabama to win the SEC Championship, beating Texas in Atlanta. He also predicted the Crimson Tide to enter the College Football Playoff as the No. 2 seed.

Pate's updated Alabama prediction comes off his visit to Tuscaloosa

Regardless of what some opposing fans will think, this is a sensible prediction by Pate. Alabama is absolutely good enough to win the SEC and National Championships this season. They are one of the two or three best teams in the country on paper. If you're an Alabama hater, go ahead and make your peace with that fact, now.

The most intriguing part of this prediction by Pate, however, is that on his show last week, he ranked Alabama at No. 5 in his "JP Poll," with Texas and Georgia ranked ahead of the Crimson Tide.

So what changed?

Well, Pate took a trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama this weekend to get another look at Alabama. He attended the Tide's second scrimmage of fall camp - obviously coming away impressed enough to jump Alabama up and pick them to win the SEC.

That has to make Alabama fans even more excited.

The buzz around this team has been almost exclusively positive during fall camp. Ty Simpson seems to have answered the QB questions, though that won't be 100% decided until he performs when the lights are bright.

Despite some bad news this weekend in the form of Jam Miller's injury and a continued adventurous kicking game, the team is looking good. DeBoer has them bought in, and the right staff and roster are in place for Alabama to get back to the top of the college football world.