2018 Football Preview – SEC – Crimson Tide
Looking for 2018 Alabama Crimson Tide predictions? The Tide went about business as usual in 2017, with a remarkable 26-23 OT victory in the National Championship game versus Clemson, thanks to freshman QB Tua Tagavailoa’s heroics. Is Alabama ready for another title run?
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2018-19 College Football Preview – Alabama Crimson Tide
Head Coach: Nick Saban
2017 Record: 13-1
Alabama Crimson Tide Odds to win the 2018 FBS Championship: +250
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The only counterpoint to Alabama’s perennial dominance – basically the only thing stopping them becoming the Golden State Warriors of college football – is the recent closing of the gap seen by Clemson and Georgia. Otherwise, it’s business as usual for Coach Saban’s first-rate program in Dixieland.
The Tide can definitely make another push for the College Football Playoff, so long as the QB competition is settled reasonably. Everyone expects Alabama to be in the mix and, when you look at the roster talent, it’s easy to understand why.
2018 Alabama Crimson Tide Predictions: Team Strengths
Depth – Up, Down, And All Around: Over the past five years, only Clemson, Ohio State and most recently Georgia come even close to how strong Nick Saban’s recruiting classes have been in Tuscaloosa.
There is a lot of turnover in the roster this season, but the guys waiting to step in are all four and five-star recruits, often the best players at their position from their state or region. In fact, this year was the first that Georgia usurped ‘Bama for top recruiting class in the SEC, an honor the Tide has held for seven years straight.
While Alabama primarily hauls in from the southeast, they still will nab elite West Coast and Midwest talents also, due to their prestige.
Tua Tagavailoa, the QB that saved the team’s bacon last year in the title game, is an elite prospect from Hawaii, for example. There is always ample talent in the pipeline for Saban’s staff, although gaining experience is obviously worth its weight in gold.
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A clear example of this is in the secondary; Alabama almost never brings in junior college players, but this season, CB Saivion Smith, a former LSU player, has been working with the first team secondary and was ranked the fifth-best CB in the nation when the Tigers first recruited him.
Elsewhere, other freakish talents like DT Raekwon Davis, LB Dylan Moses and FS Xavier McKinney are looking to step in and make large impacts.
Sophomore Stunners: Alabama features a trio of underclassman wideouts that should dazzle with their speed and quickness.
Jerry Jeudy, DeVonta Smith and Henry Ruggs are ready to get the 100,000+ fans at Bryant-Denny Stadium on their feet. Jeudy only had 14 receptions a year ago, but averaged a crazy 19 yards per reception.
Smith and Ruggs were also around the 20 yards per catch range, so these three have game-breaking speed and should make life easier for whoever emerges under center between Jalen Hurts and Tagavailoa.
Elsewhere, Hale Hentges is a grizzled vet at tight end, and ‘Bama’s stable of elite running backs should make offensive balance easy to achieve.
Teams with this kind of championship pedigree clearly have several strengths, running back is definitely another one of them. The Harrises, Damien and Najee (no relation) are ready to impose their will on opposing defenses in characteristic Crimson Tide style.
Damien Harris is gunning for a third straight 1,000-yard season, and reminds fans of Shaun Alexander, longtime Seattle Seahawks star. Najee is shifty for a big man with deceptive speed and low pad level.
All in all, when we include the fact that they’ll be running behind a stud offensive line anchored by All-American Jonah Williams and crafty senior Ross Pierschbacher, ‘Bama’s run attack should be downright overwhelming in 2018.
2018 Alabama Crimson Tide Predictions: Team Weaknesses
Replacing Lots on Defense: To wit, there aren’t a lot of deficiencies on this Alabama team. However, they do have to replace a lot of starters on defense. Indeed, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Rashaan Evans and Da’Ron Payne all went in the first round of the NFL Draft.
The Tide also lose five other every-down starters on this side of the ball. Even for a program with the Tide’s depth, those are some big shoes to fill.
Alabama certainly has the talent to fill the spots capably, but it’s unreasonable to assume there won’t be some learning curves to endure along the way.
This is one reason why JUCO transfer Smith is expected to move in at corner straightaway, as he’s eligible as a junior. In fact, there are lots of juniors that have been patiently waiting their turn with such a talented starting lineup the past couple of seasons.
It’s their time to shine and thus to mitigate one weakness Alabama might have here.
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Finally, Alabama is forced to start two freshmen at kicker and punter (Joe Bulovas and Skyler DeLong, respectively) but Alabama’s scoring offense and field-position game is so strong, that this department of the game is often made a moot point in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama Crimson Tide Prediction: 11-2
For all the other programs in the country, it’s been immensely difficult to knock this monarch off the throne. Some encouragement can be taken that Georgia is actually out-recruiting ‘Bama in the SEC now, Clemson continues to surge forward as an elite option and Ohio State is still Ohio State, even with the Urban Meyer controversy.
Yet, if you’re a Tide fan, you’re not concerned with those distractions. You care about hardware, and Alabama once again has the ability to make it happen.
As if they needed further assistance, schedule-wise it’s pretty easy for Alabama in 2018. The Tide’s only tough road game is in Death Valley at LSU, while they get the other tough customers (Auburn, Texas A&M, Mississippi State) at Bryant-Denny. Avoiding the Georgia Bulldogs is nice, too.
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As long as Nick Saban exists on this planet, the Crimson Tide are going to be very tough to knock off. It looks like there are some chinks in the armor beginning to show, but it’s looked like that in the past and the Tide respond with a National Championship.
2018 Alabama Crimson Tide Football Schedule
- 9/1/18 8:00 PM ET LOU
- 9/8/18 3:30 PM ET ARST
- 9/15/18 7:00 PM ET @MISS
- 9/22/18 TBD TAM
- 9/29/18 TBD ULL
- 10/6/18 TBD @ARK
- 10/13/18 TBD MIZZ
- 10/20/18 TBD @TENN
- 11/3/18 TBD @LSU
- 11/10/18 TBD MSST
- 11/17/18 TBD CIT
- 11/24/18 TBD AUB
What do you think about our 2018 Alabama Crimson Tide predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2018!
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