Paul Finebaum is honestly assessing what the Alabama football team could be this season.
Going on three years removed since their last national title, Paul Finebaum has some concerns about Nick Sabanās Alabama football team heading into a critical season for the Crimson Tide.
Finebaum spoke with his ESPN colleague Matt Barrie about what all is going on in Tuscaloosa. Saban isnāt getting any younger, while his greatest protege Kirby Smartās Georgia football program isnāt slowing down. After losing both coordinators from last year, we have been presented with problems and offered no solutions at Alabama. At some point, we have to honestly assess them.
Needless to say, Finebaum is rather perplexed by the Crimson Tide heading into their crucial year.
"āI think the conundrum at Alabama is (they have) enormous talent, theyāre still recruiting at a very elite level, but ā¦ what happens now? . . . And I feel confident about Alabama this fall. But for all of those people who say well, they only lost two games last year on the last play, theyāre not telling the truth. The real picture is they also won two games on the last play and won another game in the last 45 seconds. And it could have gone badly, it didnāt.ā"
Here is the entire conversation Finebaum had with Barrie from Monday afternoon about Alabama.
With the quarterback position unsettled and Tommy Rees taking over as the offensive coordinator, weāre not going to know what to expect out of the Crimson Tide offense until the season starts.
One would think Rees will pick the best quarterback to start between Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson and newcomer Tyler Buchner, but keep in mind that he and Buchner were just at Notre Dame together.
Letās discuss what needs to happen for Alabama to have a successful season up to its standard.
Paul Finebaum paints the Alabama picture perfectly with his honest assessment
I think a very important takeaway from Finebaumās comments about Alabama is that the teamās margin for victory, or defeat for that matter, is getting way too thin. The Crimson Tide usually blow the opposition out of the water by simply showing up on the field. While they fell to LSU and Tennessee on the final play, they nearly lost to Texas and Texas A&M on the final possession, too.
Georgia may have had close calls with Missouri, and definitely with Ohio State in the Peach Bowl, but we all saw the Dawgs obliterate the opposition more often than not in the last two years. I donāt know if it is a change-of-guard in terms of overall talent, but this is clearly not the Alabama of old. Truth be told, I kind of like the Tideās chances to win the SEC if Georgia does not repeat this season.
Frankly, I would expect for Alabama to win one more national title before Saban rides off into the sunset as the greatest head coach this sport has ever seen. I donāt know when itās coming, but itās going to happen at some point, maybe even this year. However, Smart is not done winning national titles either. He is in his mid-40s with two under his belt. Time is very much on his side.
Overall, there are two games that really matter for Alabama this year. That would be vs. division rival LSU, and potentially, a meeting vs. Georgia in the SEC Championship in Atlanta. It is hard to see the Crimson Tide getting to the conference title bout if they lost to the Bayou Bengals for the second year in a row. Getting to Atlanta feels paramount because it will help silence their critics.
At this point, anything short of a College Football Playoff berth will be deemed a disappointment.