If Alabama doesn’t win the national championship, then it’ll be because of these 3 reasons

1. Why Alabama won’t repeat: There are several worthy challengers

Besides roster attrition and the mental challenges of going undefeated, the single biggest issue Alabama will have to deal with is this: There are about six or seven other high-quality teams that can make the playoff, including four who have serious championship aspirations: Those teams are the Clemson Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs, he Ohio State Buckeyes and  Oklahoma Sooners.

Alabama is in a group of those five teams that nobody would be shocked if they won it all. Just outside of that includes excellent teams like Iowa State, North Carolina, Oregon and Texas A&M. They are good enough to make the playoff, but probably not quite to win multiple playoff games. Simply, it is going to be so insanely difficult for a reloading Alabama team to run the gauntlet.

While Clemson and Ohio State are breaking in new starting quarterbacks, Georgia and Oklahoma have signal-callers who can win the Heisman Trophy in JT Daniels and Spencer Rattler. Plus, Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalelei gained starting experience in the two games Trevor Lawrence missed due to COVID-19.

Young may become Alabama’s first Heisman-winning quarterback before he turns pro, but going from a clipboard holder to a national champion in his first year as the Crimson Tide starter is a stretch.

Overall, Alabama lost too much impactful talent from last year’s team, plays too daunting of a schedule and has too many high-quality teams to be indisputably better than to repeat as national champions. While Alabama is totally capable of going 11-1 this year, winning the SEC and getting back to the playoff, they will not face a cupcake in the national semifinals or the National Championship Game.

If Alabama repeats as national champions, it may be more impressive than winning it all last year.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.