If it's not Mac, it could end up Najee Harris, considering how much of their offense is all Najee.

Before Saban: 1 national title, 7 SEC titles (1933-1999, avg about 1 every 9-10 seasons). With/after Saban: 3 national titles, 5 SEC titles (2000-2020, avg about 1 every 4 seasons). Are you genuinely going to tell me that LSU before Saban and after Saban are the same?

"OK, a win against ULM looks like a pretty good bet." *Laughs in Troy Trojan*

No he's not, because we're talking about ranking teams in 2021, and JT Daniels is 3-0 this year. Daniels: 54/71, 76.1%, 8.0 yds/att (total yards irrelevant re: # of games played), 5 TD, 2 INT, 160.75 rating, 189 yds/game. Also that's 1.67 TD/game. Young: 108/148, 73.0%, 9.2 yds/att, 17 TD, 2 INT, 185.75 rating, 273.4 yds/game. That's 3.4 TD/game. In what world does having over a yard more per attempt, over 3x TDs w/ same INTs, 1.4x the yards/game, over twice the TDs/game, not considered "significantly better"? I think Daniels is a good QB, but Bryce is absolutely playing better right now, and the numbers bear that out.

"but Alabama’s recruiting helped a lot to bring him the success he’s had." First, Nick Saban IS that recruiting; Alabama didn't recruit at this level before. Second, recruiting is as much a part of being a CFB HC as any other skill, so I don't know why that wouldn't be another reason why he's the GOAT.

"Fans should hope Young doesn’t play at all in the second half." I think I want to see him (and the rest of the starting offense) play the first series of the second half as a situational rep. This offense (players and coaches) has, as a unit, exactly one (1) "first drive of the second half" rep under their belt, and they should get another one before heading to Gainesville.

This is a nice thing to do by CBS. But it's also playing with house money in terms of viewership numbers. Kind of a no-brainer to add Alabama to this game's market.

Don't forget 2008.

Y'all. It's a formula, which includes college production and awards, as well as draft position and the first 5 years of NFL production (to account for development in college). It also, critically, starts in 1998 (BCS era start) for the data used for the formula (even though the Mt. Rushmore players can be pre-1998). So that's why most of your list of great UGA RBs doesn't count. Only Gurley and Chubb count from your list, and let's be honest here: while Gurley and Chubb had good college careers, and both have been good enough in the NFL, they've not been good enough to put them over the comparable or better Alabama RBs from the same time period. Alexander, Ingram, and Henry are all better when adding up CFB+NFL. It's a formula, one with a modern time period on it, and in that formula UGA finishes 9th. You've just not had a lot of RBs that have been that kind of successful in college and/or the NFL since 1998, and definitely not as many as Alabama (or, apparently, 7 other schools in front of you).

Disagree. Tim Smith is (or will be) that standout player.

Martin: Walk-on (probably auditioning for a scholarship). Johnson: Walk-on Perine: Walk-on Scott: Granted leave by Air Force to transfer to Alabama for grad school, probably not returning for 2021. So Burnip would make 1 and only scholarship punter. The only specialist we have on scholarship right now is Will Reichard; the rest are all walk-ons (AFAIK, YMMV, etc.)

This is probably a matter of roster/marker management. Note that he said he'd be starting at Ole Miss in spring of '22, which means he'd be a Grayshirt (no scholarship until spring '22 semester) and count against the class of '22 instead of '21. In contrast, Alabama is offering him the opportunity to be on scholarship this fall. And, all respect to Ole Miss, it's Alabama.

" Harris touched the ball 719 times at Alabama and lost only one fumble during his four seasons with the Crimson Tide. " The refs caused that fumble @ Ole Miss. I had time to go pee and get a snack while his forward progress was stopped before the Ole Miss players managed to strip that ball out. Utter BS, and I really hate it for Najee not to have that perfect official record. Discerning fans will know better though.

Even if there are more Bama busts, that still means that you're still more likely to get a shot in the first place by going to Bama. What you do with that shot is not up to Bama, it's up to you, but Bama will help you get that shot as well as or better than any other program.

Metchie was starting game 1 as WR3 behind Smitty and Waddle. The starter to replace Waddle was Slade Bolden.

I didn't read most of that. I just want to respond to one part: "Yet where Saban ranks with 1 commit without a ranking. Tells me he is not actively recruiting the 2022 CLASS himself personally too much!!!! Also the fact that Saban just let Sark go so easily without trying to keep him at any cost. That tells me something." In March of 2020, Alabama had one (1) commit in the 2021 class, a 4/5-star linebacker named Deontae Lawson. In February of 2021, Alabama now has the single greatest recruiting class in the history of the 247 Composite, with 7 Composite 5-star recruits (including 3 of the top 10, more than any other school unless JTT goes to tOSU). So yeah, I trust The Man to continue to be The Man. I don't expect another "Best Class Ever" in 2022, but I'm betting it'll still be a top-5 or better class. I see no reason to doubt that given that 9 of the last 11 #1 classes have been Alabama.

Dear Bryan Kelly: Notre Dame didn't slow down Alabama's offense; Nick Saban slowed down Alabama's offense when he realized your offense would never be able to keep up.

Comparing Golding to previous Alabama DCs is a bad idea. Smart: How much of the defense was Smart at the beginning of his tenure? By the time he was in peak form in '15 he'd coached through 3 national-title winning seasons, plus three more double-digit-win seasons. Pruitt: Was the DC for a title at FSU, and the DC at a big program (UGA) for two years. And, he'd also worked for Saban before. Golding: This is his first FBS DC job. He's at a totally different point in his career.

All respect to Florida's offense; it's very good, easily the 2nd-best in the SEC IMO. However, Alabama's defense is as good as or better than the defenses you've already seen. So if we can hold you to approx. 2/3 of your average output in points, that puts you at about 28 points. Bama's allowing 18.5 PPG (down to 14 if you take out the Ole Miss game). However, your defense is giving up 26 points/game right now. You gave up 35+ 3 times, and 40+ once. It's hard for me to imagine Alabama not scoring at least 40, and probably more, in this game. My guess is that it'll be something like 45-24 or 52-31, and that it won't feel any kind of close after the 1st quarter (something like 35-14 at the half). UF hasn't shown anywhere near the defense needed to slow down this offense, whereas Bama's defense looks much improved. The gap between the offenses is fairly small, though I believe Bama still has more weapons than UF in total. The gap between the defenses, however, is pretty significant, and that'll make the difference in the game.

We have no real data on Pete Golding as an Alabama DC. All we know is that everywhere he's been the defense has shown improvement, sometimes drastically. And last year was about as good as it could be considering that there were 4 true freshmen starting in the front-7 (including the Mike LB spot, the most important on the defense), which was the first time more than 1 TF started in Saban's Alabama defense ever. Could Pruitt or Smart have done better? Maybe, but not by much, IMO. This year is a contract year for Golding and I think we'll see a lot of improvement.

All respect to UGA, who might have the best defense in the country right now, but you're going to have to look really, really good on offense the first few weeks in order for me to believe you're going to come in to Tuscaloosa and beat this Alabama team. Our defense will be right there with yours, but our offense will be much further ahead. Anything can happen, but I wasn't terribly worried about UGA's offense *before* your best QB took the 1st-team snaps for most of camp then opted out of the season.

I think that Alabama is considered to have an overall weaker schedule this year than in 2017, and to have more questions on defense. Plus this LSU game is at home, and 2017 was at Auburn, and Auburn was probably better than their final record that year (like legit might've had a case as a 2-loss SEC champ getting into the playoffs).

BUt nick saBaN isn't A pLayeRs' cOAch

OJ Howard (1st round) and Irv Smith Jr. (2nd Round) would like to have a word with you.

"besides Ole Miss’ defense, which really is of secondary concern …)" LOL. Well-played.

And Jake had Calvin Ridley, Ar'Darius Stewart, and OJ Howard to catch passes for him. Jake also had a big and fairly-accurate arm, was a good decision-maker, and a tough (though not elite) runner/scrambler when he had to be. Go look at that scramble play in the Iron Bowl that year, or a couple of times where he would lower his head and hit somebody instead of slide. He wasn't a "dual-threat" QB but he wasn't a statue either. And at the end of the day, being a good passer is more important so you can get the ball to the playmakers. All respect and love to Jalen, but we saw how having an elite runner but average (at best) passer at QB worked out for us when it really mattered.

So a 19-year-old, who is probably the best QB to ever play at Alabama, was disappointed in his circumstances and examined his options, and then decided to stick it out. So making a smart business decision to at least examine your options, and then make the right decision to stay at Alabama, where he's since shown exceptional character and leadership, is a character concern? K.

"Harris had a quieter afternoon against New Mexico State," That's because we were in Dime just about the whole day, and Shane Lee was the single LB for that.

Both guys easily exceeded the standard necessary to win a whole regular season. And both of them are championship-level QBs. So in a basic sense, yes, there's no wrong answer there. But Tua is a better QB than Jalen. Jalen is a better runner, but the gap there is not nearly enough to compensate for the difference in how much better Tua is a passer than Jalen. Jalen's not bad, but Tua is top-notch. Could we win a natty with Jalen this year? Sure. But our chances are better with Tua, and Jalen's at a place where the offense is more easily shaped around his talents, and I wish him all the best (unless against Alabama).

This article is fairly accurate, except for the run defense part. Yes, it's hard to replace QW. Counterpoints: 1) We're replacing Mack Wilson, who was inconsistent, with Dylan Moses. I think we'll be a lot better off at ILB with Dylan calling plays and taking on that role, and I think that the other ILB will be pretty solid, whether it's Josh McMillon or someone else. Combine that with the stellar OLBs and the better secondary, and your back-end run defense should definitely improve. 2) Raekwon Davis is back, and LaBryan Ray will be a starter. Those guys have a ton of talent and experience, and while I don't want to take anything away from Buggs, he was also injured in the back part of the season and still occasionally had effort issues. 3) Most importantly: You can't replace Daron Payne. He's a 1st-round draft pick and... oh wait, Quinnen Williams. OK, so it's hard to replace QW, and that's certainly true. But we have an upgrade at DL coach, and it looks like a true freshman named DJ Dale is going to win that job. If that staff thinks a true freshman can do that job, I would bet that he's going to be spectacular. The last time a TF had that job it was Daron Payne in '15, and that worked out pretty well. So I get it. We lost a generational DT in QW, and it's hard to replace a guy like that, plus we lost the signal caller ILB. But if DJ Dale plays at, say, 85% of QW, but we get significant improvement from the rest of the defense (which is super likely IMO), the run defense won't get worse, and it should get a good bit better.