In Nick Saban we trust.

Alabama will find a way to repeat as SEC champions this season, despite backfield depth issues and an obvious question at the quarterback position. The Crimson Tide’s as good as any team up front in college football’s toughest conference and flexes strengths at all three levels on defense.

The schedule is an obvious hurdle, ranked by most as one of the nation’s toughest, but Alabama’s proven against Top 25 competition and has a league title to defend.

If you saw our preseason bowl projections, we’re picking Alabama to reach the College Football Playoff this season (as we did last fall, and accurately picked the Crimson Tide’s only regular-season loss, too).

Glancing at the crystal ball, here are five guesses at how the Crimson Tide’s season will unfold in 2015:

5 predictions for Alabama in 2015

5. O.J. Howard regains early form as a freakish playmaker at tight end

His upside tremendous as an ideal NFL hybrid receiving threat who could line up in a Jimmy Graham-type role at the next level, but scouts want to see more consistency out of the rising junior. At times last fall, Howard went into a shell, a non-factor in Alabama’s passing game and an underachiever as a run-blocker up front. His targets should increase as Jacob Coker falls back on the underneath stuff as a safety blanket early this season. No one’s ever questioned Howard’s hands. Instead, it’s his overall play snap-to-snap.

4. Jacob Coker won’t match Blake Sims’ overall production

Alabama’s first-year starter should surpass the 3,000-yard mark in the Crimson Tide’s 13th game (Atlanta), but he’ll fall just short of Sims’ near 1,500-yard explosion. He won’t approach 28 touchdown passes, either. Somewhere in the 20-22 range seems more likely for the facilitator in Lane Kiffin’s well-balanced offense.

3. A’Shawn Robinson emerges as Alabama’s best player defensively

The junior All-American candidate is athletic enough play any position along the Crimson Tide’s defensive line and has a nose for the football, making 14.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage over two seasons. In what is likely his final campaign in Tuscaloosa, expect Robinson to return to freshman form as a dominant gap-to-gap player and emerge as one of the SEC’s top draft-eligible players.

2. Crimson Tide clinch SEC West in Iron Bowl

Needing a win over Auburn to win the division in November, Alabama will get it done at Jordan-Hare, avenging 2013’s debacle at the end of regulation. Derrick Henry will also be within striking distance of Nick Chubb’s SEC rushing lead and should get the football at least 25 times against Will Muschamp’s defense.

1. Alabama’s only regular-season loss comes at Georgia

Like last season, the Crimson Tide will suffer an early-season setback on the road against a league opponent, this time, an equally-talented Bulldogs squad. Alabama will get its revenge a few months later in the SEC Championship Game, but the first meeting won’t go as planned during the first true road start for a couple newcomers at the skill positions.