We’ve chronicled the West over East imbalance in the SEC all season. We’ve also chronicled the Alabama over everybody else imbalance.

So we’ve finally come up with a game that might actually be competitive for the Crimson Tide: Alabama versus an SEC East All-Star team.

It’s the only chance of an SEC East fan leaving Atlanta happy on Dec. 3.

We’ll name some of the likely players who would make such a team and speculate about how they would match up with Bama’s personnel.

Offensive Backfield

QB: Joshua Dobbs (Tennessee), Jacob Eason (Georgia)

RB: Boom Williams (Kentucky), Ralph Webb (Vandy), Nick Chubb (UGA)

Vs. Bama’s linebackers: Bama’s backers are probably one of the more underrated facets of their team, and there’s little here to cause expectations that UA would struggle with the guys above. Bama made Dobbs look silly head-to-head, and Williams got very little in the run game. Maybe the sheer quality with numbers would start to wear down Reuben Foster, Shaun Dion Hamilton, and Tim Williams.

Eason is the East’s best pure passer. He’d need a lot more protection up front than what the Dawgs have provided, but an All-Star offensive line might allow him ample time to take shots downfield.

Receivers and Tight Ends

WR: J’Mon Moore (Missouri), Antonio Callaway (Florida), Josh Malone (Tennessee), Isaiah McKenzie (UGA)

TE: Isaac Nauta (UGA)

Vs. Bama’s secondary: In terms of the receivers, frankly, there’s really little here to suggest that this unit as a whole would be appreciably better than Texas A&M’s receiver group. It is worth noting that the only offense Bama faced with a tight end with the physical tools of Natua was Ole Miss — which has come as close to solving the Tide as is possible. You could argue that if Ole Miss could run the football the way our all-star team here could, it would have upset Bama again.

Everything about Alabama is relative, but teams have had success throwing the deep ball against that secondary.

Alabama has given up 32 pass plays longer than 20 yards, including 14 that went for 30 or more. That puts the Tide in the lower half of the league in both categories.

Offensive Line

Greg Pyke, UGA

Martez Ivey, Florida

David Shape, Florida

Jashon Robertson, Tennessee

Jon Toth, Kentucky

Vs. Alabama’s defensive line: This group is the key to the East’s chances. First, we need to try to get these guys healthy, which has probably been part of the reason that the East has been awful this year. Tennessee and Florida have spent more time treating injured linemen than practicing with healthy ones. If these guys are healthy, you could argue that they look a lot like the Ohio State line that did well with Bama two years ago.

Defensive Line

Derek Barnett, Tennessee

Darius English, South Carolina

Trenton Thompson, Georgia

Josh Augusta, Missouri

Vs. Bama’s line: Bama has given up 17 sacks, which is one of the better totals in the nation. Still, players like Barnett and English could flush Jalen Hurts into some trouble. Remember that Tennessee’s lone highlight against Bama was Barnett basically creating a Vols TD on his own.

LSU shut down Bama’s run game as well as anybody. This SEC group is as talented as the Tigers’.

Linebackers

Zach Cunningham, Vandy

Jordan Jones, Kentucky

Jarrad Davis, Florida

Vs. Bama’s backfield: Cunningham might be the best non-Alabama player in the SEC, and the mind boggles to think how good he could be with a talented supporting cast. Hurts would be the key to this matchup. All three defenders have the speed to chase him, but it would become a question of discipline for all three.

Secondary

Jalen Tabor, Florida

Aarion Penton, Missouri

Quincy Wilson, Florida

Dominick Sanders, Georgia

Vs. Bama’s receivers: People forget that Calvin Ridley and Ar’Darius Stewart can each take over a game at will, and that O.J. Howard is better than the best tight end in the East. These are some good coverage guys, but even if they neutralize the big play on the outside, Howard would have a big day over the middle.

Special Teams

Kicker: Elliott Fry, South Carolina

Punter: Johnny Townsend, Florida

Kick Returner/Punt Returner: Darius Sims, Vanderbilt and Johnathon Johnson, Missouri

Vs. Bama’s specialists: Kicks and returns can be pivotal against Bama. For once, the Tide wouldn’t have an automatic edge in easy yards — although the Bama specialists are as good as those from the East, so they wouldn’t lose anything either.

Evan Berry is the SEC’s best returner, but he’s out for the year. Sims is averaging 30.1 yards per return, however, second in the SEC behind Berry.

Coaching

Jim McElwain?

Vs. Bama: OK, this one isn’t even competitive. Who could outcoach Nick? Not Butch Jones. Probably not McElwain. Muschamp? No chance. The All-Stars better be two scores better on the field, or Tricky Nicky will steal this one away.

Conclusion

It’s not a sure thing at all that the East All-Star team would defeat Alabama.

For one thing, talent in the East has declined to an extent that you could argue that an All-Star East backfield is no better than LSU, an East receiver corps is no better than Texas A&M.

If the East All-Stars were to beat Alabama, it would be premised on two things.

First, the All-Star offensive line would stand a better chance of holding up against Alabama’s front seven than any single team, certainly any single East team.

Second, the East’s defense would need to create scores. Basically, this is how Florida lives anyway.

But the West’s excellent teams that have to deal with Alabama annually lack the defensive playmakers to equal this group. Not surprisingly, LSU with Arden Key, Kendell Beckwith, and Tre’Davious White, would be the closest to the all-stars, and they DID give Bama a tough run.

Who would win the game? I’d bet on the East All-Stars. But I wouldn’t bet much.