Every football team has an X-factor going into a season.

An X-factor is something that figures to ultimately have a strong influence on a team’s season.

But it is unpredictable.

Hence, it could be a good thing, or it could turn out to be not so good.

It could be an individual player, a position group, a unit, a coaching situation, a scheduling quirk, the mindset of the team or program based on recent or long-term success of failure.

It could be all kinds of stuff.

Here is a look at 1 X-factor for every team in the SEC West in 2021:

Alabama

The Crimson Tide’s X-factors usually wind up having a positive impact even if they don’t in September.

They might struggle on one side of the ball for a while until youngsters fully adapt to expanded roles. It might take a few games for players and a new coach to get fully comfortable with one another.

Bama has even been known to occasionally drop a game or 2 along the way – and it opens this season against a dangerous Miami team.

But the Tide are the most predictable team in college football. They are more likely to win the national championship or at least be in the thick of the chase year in and year out.

Nonetheless even they are not immune to an x-factor.

This year the X-factor is the offense.

It has a new coordinator as former Penn State and Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien steps in after Steve Sarkisian became head coach at Texas.

It has a new quarterback as highly touted but unproven Bryce Young replaces Mac Jones.

It has to replace its top 2 receivers (including Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith) and workhorse running back (Najee Harris).

It has to replace 3 starting linemen and 3 assistant coaches – aside from Sarkisian.

Nick Saban and the Tide will figure all of that out eventually, but will all of those changes produce 1 or more losses before the figuring out is done?

Or will the Tide just keep on rolling like nothing changed?

Arkansas

Sam Pittman did a nice job of making the Razorbacks more competitive last season is his debut as head coach.

He is a highly successful offensive line coach, and Arkansas expects all 5 offensive linemen from last season to return.

The Razorbacks were just 3-7 last season, but they were clearly on the rise. They could continue to ascend this season or get stuck around the bottom of the division.

They’re not ready to leap into title contention by any means, but if Pittman can mold those experienced Hogs on the line into a consistently effective group, everything else becomes much easier.

But maybe that is too much to expect out of that unit.

Auburn

Sure the Tigers have a new head coach in former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin, but he’s not the X-factor.

Harsin brought in Mike Bobo to be his offensive coordinator, but Bobo isn’t the X-factor either.

The X-factor is the quarterback position.

Bo Nix is the incumbent starter and his performance has been unpredictable for 2 seasons. Now TJ Finley arrives as a transfer from LSU who made some big plays and some terrible plays in 5 starts as a freshman last season.

The competition will challenge both players.

If Nix struggles, Finley could beat him out. If Finley doesn’t win the starting job, his presence could push Nix to heights he has yet to reach.

Who will win? How good will the winner be?

That’s Auburn’s X-factor.

LSU

The Tigers had a lot more talent than their 3-5 start last season might have indicated.

Their closing victories against Florida and Ole Miss were nice, but still LSU’s talent should have produced a better team and record last season.

Virtually every starter is back from last season and the Tigers have a lot of incoming talent in recruits and transfers.

So LSU will be more talented than last season. But will this year’s talent play up to its potential any better than last year’s did?

Head coach Ed Orgeron replaced offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger with Jake Peetz, passing game coordinator Scott Linehan with DJ Mangas and defensive coordinator Bo Pelini with Daronte Jones.

The common thread was that Orgeron brought in younger coaches in search of renewed energy, enthusiasm, and teaching and communication skills.

Will the youthful coaches prove to be more effective than their predecessors – or just younger? Their ability to get maximum results is LSU’s X-factor.

Mississippi State

Mike Leach usually has the quarterback thing figured out before a season begins.

But that wasn’t the case last year in Leach’s first season with the Bulldogs.

Sure, KJ Costello set an SEC-record for passing yards in the stunning season-opening win at LSU, but eventually he was on the bench and Will Rogers was trying to breathe life into the Air Raid offense.

Rogers had his moments, but Leach’s passing game never looked like Leach’s passing game is supposed to look.

Former Southern Miss quarterback Jack Abraham has arrived to push Rogers, and whoever wins the job will be the leader of State’s X-factor – the passing offense.

Ole Miss

Things were different in Oxford than they were in Starkville last season.

In Lane Kiffin’s first season with the Rebels, the offense was everything the head coach’s offense was supposed to be.

But the defense wasn’t what any coach would want his defense to ever be as Ole Miss ranked 126th in total defense. The Rebels lost 3 games in which they scored at least 35 points, including 2 in which they scored 48.

The Rebels have added some talent on defense and they don’t have to be great on defense to complement the high-powered offense.

But they do have to be appreciably better than 126th.

The defense is Ole Miss’ X-factor.

Texas A&M

The Aggies narrowly missed out on a Playoff berth last season.

Only a decisive Week 2 loss to Alabama – and the CFP selection committee – kept them out.

They have to replace a 3-year starter at quarterback in Kellon Mond as well as most of their offensive line. But Jimbo Fisher’s defense should be so good that the offense won’t get into many shootouts.

The schedule sets up well with a relatively weak start to the season. The first 5 games are against Kent State, Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas and Mississippi State, and all but one is in the state of Texas.

Then comes a home game against Alabama.

After that the most challenging games should be road games against Ole Miss and LSU.

A&M is good enough to repeat its success of last a season – a 9-1 record that included an Orange Bowl victory over North Carolina.

The X-factor is whether the Aggies are good enough to use those 5 tune-ups to be prepared to knock off Alabama.