Chasing championships in the DeBoer era and impact of '24 Alabama Football Schedule

Alabama Football enters a new era in 2024. The most momentous change is no GOAT as head coach. Instead of Nick Saban, Kalen DeBoer will chase Alabama Crimson Tide championships. Less drastic but bringing other considerable change is the 2024 SEC Schedule and the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Predictions are all over the place for how the Crimson Tide will do in 2024. Saturday Down South recently published a way-too-early 2024 SEC Power Rankings. According to SDS, the Crimson Tide is No. 1, followed by Texas, Georgia, and Ole Miss. Because Alabama fans will want to know - SDS ranked Auburn at No. 10, indicating the Tigers will move from 'turrible' to just bad in 2024.

Those doubting the Crimson Tide obviously do not believe college football programs have DNA that influences their futures. It is a new era in Tuscaloosa, but John Locke's blank tablet theory (Tabula Rasa) should not apply. The Alabama football program has ingrained championship expectations that go back way before Nick Saban.

Consider this - since winning the 2020 National Championship, the Crimson Tide has won 36 games, while losing only six. Four of the six losses came down to the last play. Two SEC Championships, two CFP appearances, and one National Championship Game appearance occurred in the three season run. Only for Alabama Football are those results framed as failure.

Can Kalen DeBoer deliver a Crimson Tide championship? We will have to wait and see. But as long as DeBoer, his staff, and his players believe they can, the Crimson Tide will be in the championship hunt every season.

Some don't get the history or believe it does not matter. From that perspective, comes predictions like 2024 being a 4-4 SEC season for the Crimson Tide. Sure, Alabama will likely lose games in the '24 season, but that prediction including an Auburn win over Bama in Tuscaloosa is best ignored.

Win-loss records can be affected by luck. A greater impact is the strength of opposition.

Brad Crawford, writing for 247Sports concluded that nine of CFB's toughest 15 schedules were those of SEC teams. The nine are listed below, along with each team's schedule strength ranking.

• No. 1 - Florida Gators; No. 2 - Oklahoma Sooners; No. 3 - Arkansas Razorbacks; No. 4 - South Carolina Gamecocks; No. 7 - Mississippi State Bulldogs; No. 8 - Vanderbilt Commodores; No. 12 - Kentucky Wildcats; No. 14 - Georgia Bulldogs and No. 15 - Alabama Crimson Tide.

Alabama Football 2024 Scheduling Quirk

Crawford's rankings apply to only the regular season. An oddity is Alabama and Georgia, could meet twice in the post-season, making the 2024 season one when the Tide and the Dawgs could play three times. Saturday Down South called that possibility not far fetched.

The 2024 offseason will feel painfully long for Crimson Tide fans. Take heart, spring practice is now less than eight weeks away.