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The Alabama Crimson Tide, after dropping regular-season matchups to Tennessee and LSU, missed out on the College Football Playoff last season for just the second time since the playoff’s inception in 2014, letting Georgia run the table in the SEC and win the national title.
To topple the Bulldogs and get back to a national title, Alabama will have to play more disciplined football, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
“What Alabama can’t do is continue its 2022 trend of penalties and turnovers,” Dinich wrote in an April 3 story about the four teams “best-equipped to take on Georgia.”
The Tide ranked 123rd out of 131 teams in penalty yardage given up last season, and Alabama averaged more penalties per game last season than in any other under Saban.
Alabama hired Kevin Steele as defensive coordinator in an effort to “bring back the nastiness,” Touchdown Alabama’s Stephen M. Smith wrote on April 11.
“The mentality of discipline, toughness and making the opponent quit was not at the forefront for the Tide in the last two years. … Kevin Steele, 65, started the culture of dominance in 2007 and 2008 as defensive coordinator, defensive head coach and linebackers coach,” Smith wrote.
How the Tide Can Beat the Bulldogs
Heading into 2023, Saban is tasked with replacing not only former Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young, but his equally as dominant defensive counterpart, Will Anderson, Jr. Not to mention, the departure of other notable contributors from last year’s team such as Brian Branch, Tyler Steen and many more.
The quarterback job is expected to go to either Jalen Milroe or Ty Simpson, and the competition for the spot could go all the way through fall camp, according to Chase Goodbread of The Tuscaloosa News. Either one could shape up to give the Tide an advantage against Georgia, Dinich wrote.
“Both teams are searching for a new quarterback, but no matter who has won the job for Nick Saban, he has been effective against the blitz,” Dinich wrote. “This could be an advantage for the Tide because Georgia has a tendency to blitz a lot when facing elite quarterbacks, and, according to ESPN’s Stats and Information Group, under Saban, Alabama has the best QBR in the nation when blitzed.”
She also noted that Georgia’s reluctance to make deep throws squares well with Alabama’s pass defense.
“In Georgia’s two close wins last year, against Missouri and Kentucky, the Bulldogs only attempted four passes over 20 yards, and this also favors the Tide. According to ESPN’s Stats and Info, opposing teams only completed 26% of their deep passes against the Tide last year — 15th in FBS,” Dinich wrote.
Who Is the Tide’s Biggest Test on the 2023 Schedule?
Even though Alabama lost two regular season games, they were on the brink of collapse at many other points throughout the season.
The Tide barely escaped a Quinn Ewers-led Texas squad in week two, nearly dropped another game to Jimbo Fisher and the Texas A&M Aggies in week six and struggled mightily against Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss Rebels near the end of the regular season.
Looking ahead to 2023, it’s hard to pick which team poses the biggest threat to the Tide when so many teams on the schedule have gone toe to toe with them in recent years, but if Alabama fans were to circle one game on the schedule to be worried about, it’s October 21 against the Tennessee Volunteers.
The Vols return a veteran transfer quarterback in Joe Milton who possesses possibly the strongest arm in all of college football. While his career is somewhat checkered, being benched both at Michigan before transferring and then at Tennessee in favor of Hendon Hooker, he showed what he’s capable of against Clemson in the 2023 Orange Bowl, throwing for 251 yards and three touchdowns.
Josh Heupel’s team also returns another intriguing transfer in Bru McCoy at wide receiver. McCoy was a five-star recruit in the 2019 class, per 247Sports, and spent his first three seasons with USC before making the move to Knoxville in 2022. While he has yet to find his footing in college football, McCoy possesses incredible physical traits, standing at 6-foot-3, 221 pounds.
Finally, Tennessee looks to have attempted to address its achilles’ heel from 2022 and added a talented transfer cornerback in Andre Turrentine from Ohio State to help alleviate the Vols’ pass defense woes. Last season, Tennessee ranked 127 out of 131 teams in pass defense, allowing nearly 300 yards through the air per game.
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