5 reasons Alabama will win the national championship
When it comes to Alabama football, people are witnessing one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. They are constantly in the mix to win it all, and this season will be no different.
Here are five reasons why the Tide will win it all in 2017.
1. The schedule is relatively easy
The Crimson Tide open up with Florida State — which will be ranked somewhere in the top 5 nationally. While Alabama has played some tough opponents to open up the season, this might be their biggest challenge under Saban.
There’s good news, however. If they can make it past the Seminoles, things should lighten up from there. They get to play Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee and LSU at home, where a Saban-led Alabama program has never lost by more than seven points.
Having to play Auburn at Jordan-Hare stadium is never easy, but the Tide should get to rest up the week before with a home game against Mercer.
When looking to the SEC East, there isn’t one team that stands out above the rest. More than likely, Alabama would face off against Florida or Georgia if it makes it to the SEC championship game. Both teams have talent, but the Tide would more than likely be a heavy favorite over either.
Playing in the SEC never provides an easy road to the national championship, but the stars might have aligned perfectly to give Alabama an easier path than expected.
2. The run game
Alabama has made five appearances in the national championship game over the last decade. In the five seasons where they made the big game, these have been their rankings among college football’s top rushing offenses:
- 2009: 12th
- 2011: 16th
- 2012: 16th
- 2015: 32nd
- 2016: 12th
That means that they’ve averaged having the 18th (17.6 to be exact) best rushing offense during those seasons. Now, let’s look at the five seasons in which they didn’t make it to the championship:
- 2007: 56th
- 2008: 30th
- 2010: 30th
- 2013: 25th
- 2014 :37th
When compared, the Crimson Tide didn’t even average a run game in the top 30 (35.6) in years they weren’t participating in college football’s last game of the season. Alabama is clearly at it’s best when it fields one of the nation’s top rushing attacks, which means that Alabama will once again be in the mix.
The Tide returns their top four rushers from 2016, a group that contributed to a run game that was ranked 12th nationally — tied for highest that it has been under Nick Saban. On top of that, they also added 5-star RB Najee Harris, who has the potential to be the best ball-carrier that has ever played at Alabama.
When you include Jalen Hurts’ ability with his legs, Alabama should yet again have one of the nation’s elite rushing attacks. That bodes well for their chances of winning another national championship. Speaking of Hurts …
3. Jalen Hurts
When you have a quarterback who can consistently make game-changing plays, life seems to get a lot easier. It makes things easier for the rest of the offense, and it makes things easier for the defense as well.
Hurts has the ability to carry this Alabama team to another national championship. After throwing for 2,780 yards and 23 touchdowns as a true freshman, Hurts looks poised to build on those numbers as he enters his sophomore season. He showed tremendous improvement on his deep ball in the A-Day game in April, which only makes him more lethal moving forward.
In addition to his impressive statistics through the air, Hurts also added 954 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground. It wouldn’t be surprising to see those numbers take a dip to keep him better protected from injury, but that doesn’t mean the threat won’t constantly be on the minds of opposing defenses.
With Hurts having a year of experience — and an entire offseason as the starter — under his belt, he should become one of the premier players in college football.
4. The talent level
There isn’t a more talented team in the country from top to bottom than Alabama. For the seventh consecutive year, the Tide finished with the No. 1 recruiting class according to 247Sports.
Not only does Alabama bring in premium talent, they also do an excellent job of addressing their needs. Following last season, the offensive line lost All-America left tackle Cam Robinson to the NFL. They countered that loss by bringing in two 5-star tackles — Alex Leatherwood and Jedrick Wills — in addition to signing the No. 1 JUCO OT, Elliot Baker.
The team lost defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Dalvin Tomlinson, and what did the Tide do? They signed 5-star DE LaBryan Ray, 4-star DT Phidarian Mathis and the No. 1 JUCO DE, Isaiah Buggs. It’s like that at almost every position, and that only helps to ensure that the team is never having to rebuild at any position.
Position-by-position, it’s hard to compete with the depth that Alabama has in any given year. That makes them a favorite to win the national championship in 2017 — and every other year for that matter.
5. Nick Saban
When is the last time that you stopped and really admired what Saban has done during his time at Alabama? In case you forgot, let’s take a look at some of his statistics since 2007.
- 119-19 record (86.2 win percentage)
- 5 SEC championships
- 5 national championship appearances
- 4 national championships
- 43 All-Americans
- 22 first-round NFL draft picks
- 7 consecutive No. 1 recruiting classes
Saban has produced more first-round NFL picks (22) than he has losses (19) at Alabama. If you exclude his first season, his win percentage jumps from 86.2 percent to 89.6. There is little doubt that what he has built in Tuscaloosa will never be replicated.
Any success that Alabama has starts at the top, and at this point, Nick Saban doesn’t seem ready to give up his position in this game of thrones. The Tide’s national championship hopes are clearly in great hands.
I wish you’d omitted “national championship *appearances*” in #5. It’s an irrelevant statistic, and losing a national championship isn’t anything worth bragging about.
In the Playoff era making the NC is a huge deal. The semifinal games are very difficult and you have to get ready to play again in a week. The two games with Clemson were basically toss up games. Whoever had the ball last won. It’s not like Bama was shut out.
In 2010 that was probably Bama’s most talented team. Injuries on the OL and other places really hurt that team. They got healthy and clobbered MSU so bad it was obvious that they never should have been paired together.
What hurt that team was so many people more worried about their draft spot the following April then what they were doing that fall because they already had the rings. The “Bama mentality” was still being developed at that point.
If it was the poll era, I’d agree, because there was no definite NCG. But now, in the BCS and CFP eras, we’ve had that, and making it to those games means something. And, specifically to this sort of article, it helps to contrast with other programs that are good, and made it to the NCG, but aren’t 4 for 5.
For example, there are four teams that have at least four appearances in the NCG (BCS or CFP): OU (1 for 4), tOSU (2 for 4), FSU (2 for 4), and Alabama (4 for 5). You can also add LSU with three appearances, going 2 for 3. It matters that Alabama has the most appearances in the NCG because that’s consistent excellence at the highest level, then being able to win almost all of those is a sign of excellent coaching (among other things). And that one loss is so close as to still be considered excellence; it’s not like Alabama got beat badly the way like some of the BCS losers (46-29, 13-2, 37-14, 55-19 LOL, 41-14, 21-0, 42-14).
*badly like some
I went to change that sentence and failed. Neeeed more coffee…
I would phrase it “if we were a school that needed something to hang our hat on, it would matter”. As it stands, I’m not interested in making note of the one that got away. Sure it was a great game against a great opponent, I just don’t see any need to make a game you didn’t win into a metric.
Clint, unlike you where you needed 5 things to plead your case for Alabama. I only need 1 reason to tell you as to why Alabama won’t win a national championship in FBS football, ok ?
Well that 1 reason is just quite simply the fact that there isn’t a real national champion in college football at the FBS level, isn’t that right Clint ??
Now Clint be prepared for the total annihilation of the state of Alabama by Alabama fans when you tell them that it’s actually nothing more than a sports media based mythical championship. A mythical championship that is totally unrecognized by the NCAA as being a real NCAA national championship for a school, right Clint ?
Now Clint make sure that you break it to them gently now. Because there honestly is no telling what they may do when they find out that those 16 national championships that they thought they had in football are actually nothing more than a fake championship. Because the actual truth is that the university of Alabama only has 10 real NCAA recognized national championships across all sports for the entire history of the school. Please be extremely careful when you tell them that the university of Alabama is only mared in an 8th place tie in the SEC with Kentucky. Yet at least 8 of Kentucky’s are in men’s basketball. While Alabama’s are in men’s golf, women’s softball & women’s gymnastics. LOL!!!
Like I said Clint, all one needs
Personally, I like golf, women’s softball and women’s gymnastics. Thank you for setting the record straight, Boss Man.
So, at what level do you legitimize a CFB championship in your mind? Clearly, according to your criteria, there needs to be an NCAA tournament. How may teams in the field pass your eye test? Two and four apparently don’t work. Eight? Sixteen? Sixty-four? Yes, the history of 1-A football is littered with BS nattys from multiple “recognized” sources, but that’s been a big driver in establishing the CFPO. Your argument is that, at least on a national stage, all FBS schools, including LSU, are playing for nothing. Does this apply to conference championships as well since no one other than the Big 12 plays a full round robin? At what point do you, as an LSU football fan, say, “YES, we achieved our goal this year!”?
Mountain Dog I think The Boss Man has some Bammer envy. Nick Saban clearly wants to win all of the games. I really think that is the goal. Maybe there are no real “National Champions” There are teams that you beat twice in the same calendar year and have a 6 game win streak over. I like winning the last game and getting that trophy that all of those other teams covet. Championship or no championship playing top teams and beating them is the goal for any true sportsman.
Really the best part is the bickering and the uncertainty that clouds CFB. I like that the only thing that the other teams know for sure is that they are chasing Alabama and NS.
Nobody likes women’s softball other then family members. The other sports are fine.
Someone is rlly still butthurt over 2011.
Yeah. I’ll bet he likes their fake football championships just fine and wouldn’t mind a few more.
I’m claiming LSU’s NC there boss man. You can feel free to type as much silly nonsense as you like. It doesn’t make you correct.
Look at the man-on-man matchups in the Bama-FSU game. The Seminoles will have more talent than any other team the Tide will face during the regular season, so if Nick can thump Jimbo in that one I see no reason Alabama can’t do what it should have done last year: carry an undefeated season all the way through the CFP championship. Yes, imponderables and injuries could slow the train, but my guess is that this year Saban could very easily field the best team he’s had in Tuscaloosa. And given the last-second “failure” against Clemson, something tells me motivation won’t be an issue.