The Alabama Crimson Tide are the defending national champions, and they are mainstays in the College Football Playoff.

This fall, they should be contenders for a final four spot once again, but that doesn’t mean that they’re a perfect squad.

On Wednesday, former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel joined ESPNU Radio on SiriusXM and said that he thinks the Tide will be in the CFP field, but also named the one thing that could keep them out of the Playoff mix:

First, Neuheisel started out by saying he thinks the Crimson Tide should easily make it to the College Football Playoff:

“You don’t have to use a pencil when you put them in the final four,” Neuheisel said. “You just use a pen. You don’t have to erase. First of all, they’ve already been there four times out of four. Second of all, we just saw the freshman make minced meat of Georgia’s defense in the second half [of the national title game]. Tua Tagovailoa and the three freshmen wide receivers, not to mention a beautiful-looking tight end in Irv Smith Jr. Right? And we know, given what we’ve seen over and over again, that the defense will be replenished. So, this, to me, is as easy as it’s ever been.”

However, he did note one thing that could keep the Tide from reaching their full potential:

“The only thing that can’t happen for Alabama if I were sitting here making a list of concerns: You can’t have a divided locker room with the quarterback situation. That can’t happen.”

If there’s one coach who can keep his team focused throughout this turmoil, though, it’s Nick Saban, so we should expect another great year from Alabama.