One of the biggest topics every year early in the season is Alabama’s scheduling.

This year, Alabama faced off against Duke and New Mexico State already and won both by a combined score of 104-13. So, naturally, everyone is going to talk about how weak the Tide’s nonconference slate is.

It doesn’t get any stronger this week either with Southern Miss coming to town. Alabama is a 38.5-point favorite.

It’s important to note that schedules are made way in advance. In the future, Alabama has scheduled some premier nonconference games, but that doesn’t help the current perception.

One person who would love to see Alabama score stronger teams early in the season is the legendary Joe Namath. Paul Finebaum asked Namath what his impression was so far with Alabama. He brought up scheduling.

“I’m excited about the team of course,” Namath said. “I want us to win every game.

“One of the things as a fan — a big fan — is us play stronger teams earlier on. I know the SEC has a seven-game conference kind of thing, and I get a kick out of listening to Coach Saban, ‘Hey, we’ll play anybody.’ But the fact of the matter is that most people don’t want to play Alabama.

“I’d like to see us have a tougher schedule, but never get tired of winning.”

It’s important to note that Alabama plays eight conference games as opposed to seven that Namath mentioned. As long as Alabama keeps winning, it doesn’t need to scheduler “tougher” opponents even to boost its strength of schedule in the selection committee’s eyes.

You can watch Namath’s comments below from the Paul Finebaum Show: