What to look for in Saturday night's Alabama Crimson Tide season-opener

Alabama Crimson Tide fans are pumped for the season-opening game against Western Kentucky. The enthusiasm will only be surpassed by how excited the players will be to play a game finally. There are many different opinions about what to expect Saturday night, none of them include giving the Hilltoppers any chance of winning.

In a full, regular-season prediction I provided a couple of days ago I settled on a 42-17 Alabama Crimson Tide win over WKU. I will not waffle on that prediction, but I will add for WKU to reach 17 points, a busted coverage in the Tide secondary must lead to a second touchdown.

It would be easy to guess Alabama's new offense will put up more than 50 points. That is possible, but I doubt more than 50% of the Tide's new offense will be used. WKU will likely provide so little resistance to the Alabama rushing attack, that not much will be needed through the air. Some Crimson Tide fans may disagree, but no style points are needed against WKU. Alabama will not chase points, and with new systems on both sides of the ball, Alabama possibly looking ragged at times will be no cause for alarm.

I hope to see what Kalen DeBoer has been preaching for months; consistency. Minimal penalties and no unforced errors; along with consistent intensity and execution will do fine, whatever the final score.

Alabama Crimson Tide 'What to look for' Saturday Night

• Right tackle play, by Wilkin Formby and Elijah Pruitt that is not a liability and shows promise to be near the level of the rest of Alabama's offensive line.

• This season, I'm presuming no weak links at wide receiver, all the way through the Tide's top six wideouts. It will be interesting to see what a seventh or eighth guy can show. But in a game where Alabama may not throw 25 passes, it could be few of the Tide's highly talented wide receivers get many targets. For perspective, in last season's opener, Alabama threw only 24 passes.

• Will it be DaShawn Jones or Zabien Brown at the second cornerback spot? I'm guessing both will rotate. How Brown and the other freshmen defensive backs hold up will be very interesting.

• Short and intermediate throwing success from Jalen Milroe. If Jalen Milroe finishes his work by the middle of the third quarter, will Ty Simpson get more than a single possession with first-unit players?

• Will the defensive front seven (six, really in the 4-2-5) deliver the hard-hitting, flying to the ball, aggressive play Kane Wommack has been talking about for months?

• If the defense breaks down, what are the reasons; and will any defensive personnel weaknesses be identified? Growing pains can be overcome for a couple of weeks, and probably against Wisconsin as well. All that changes on Sept. 28.