During an appearance on a recent ESPN teleconference, Kirk Herbstreit made a somewhat bold statement in regards to Nick Saban’s program — despite the Crimson Tide being only one game away from the first 15-0 mark in school history, the ESPN college football analyst envisions Alabama potentially being better in 2019.

Herbstreit made his comments after being asked about Nick Saban. Specifically, Herbstreit was asked what a win on Monday night would do for Saban’s legacy. When you consider Saban already has six national championships on his mantle, a seventh would give him more national trophies than any coach in the history of the sport — at least at CFB’s highest level.

“People want to compare him to whether it’s Bear Bryant, Bud Wilkinson, Woody Hayes, Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, those are all legendary coaches. If he’s able to win on Monday night, I think you have to love the sport of college football. I’m with (teleconference co-host) Chris (Fowler), and going way back, I know John Wooden had a ridiculous run, Red Auerbach with the Celtics, Phil Jackson, what he did with the Bulls and Jordan,” Herbstreit said.

“Here is the funny thing. It’s not slowing down. People in the NFL, they’re looking for cracks in that armor. Belichick, they lost a game. Brady is done. They’re waiting for the Patriots dynasty to be done.”

Here’s where Herbstreit began to look into his crystal ball and predict just how good Alabama could be in 2019. Despite some asking if the 2018 team could be Saban’s best in Tuscaloosa, Herbstreit believes 2019 could be even better.

“With Alabama, they might lose a game, but for 10 or 11 years they’re either in the national title or they’re a play or two away, they get upset, that close to being in it again. We’ve never seen anything like this. It’s not slowing down,” Herbstreit continued.

“They just maybe signed arguably their best recruiting class they’ve ever been able to put together in December. I told Chris, I think next year, they’re going to lose some great players, but with Tua coming back, I think this team scores 45, 50 a game next year again. I think they could be better next year than this year.”

If he’s right, next year could be more of the season next fall. Also, when you consider Clemson is loaded with young, premier talent like Trevor Lawrence, Justyn Ross, Tee Higgins and Travis Etienne, there’s a good chance we get Alabama vs. Clemson Round 5 this time next year.