The Alabama Crimson Tide are very good, and they are sitting at the top of the college football rankings. However, they are at the top of the rankings because they are called Alabama. They have stiff competition in the SEC, and they could run into some very tough competition in Penn State or Oklahoma. We cannot sit here and say that Alabama is earmarked for a run to the title game because they have too many obstacles to overcome. We should play out the season and see what happens.
Georgia
Georgia could easily go undefeated and play Alabama in the SEC title game.
At the rate Georgia is improving, they could beat Alabama. You might not see it today, but it could be a reality come the end of the season. The Georgia offense is more than good enough to score on Alabama, and Alabama will have to hope that they can actually score on Georgia. That game could be a close one that is decided by a field goal. If Alabama loses the SEC title game, they are going to some inconsequential bowl game that they might not even want to show up to.
Penn State
Penn State has Saquon Barkley, and that is more than enough to frighten the Alabama defense and put them on their heels. The Crimson Tide might see this team in the title game or semi-final, and they will be stumped like they were with Deshaun Watson last year.
That would be an easy loss for Bama because they simply have not seen anyone like that during this season. They might not even come close to handling that offense, and defending Barkley would be nearly impossible.
Clemson
Everyone would like to see Bama and Clemson play for the national title again, and the simple fact is that Clemson is better than Alabama.
If Clemson were called Alabama, they would be No. 1 in the polls. Alabama is getting votes because they are a vaunted program, but Clemson will be there waiting to beat them in the playoff. You might be shocked at how rabid the defense is at Clemson, and they have Kelly Bryant at quarterback who is better than anyone Bama can put on the field.
The SEC is weaker
The SEC has a lot of middle range teams that are eating up wins from the best teams. All the wins that Bama has so far look nice, but their conference is not as stellar as it once was. They would not even be given the top seed in the playoff because it should go to Clemson right now. Bama has to play out the season just as everyone else does, and then we can see if they can get back to the promised land where they belong. Outscoring a couple teams by a lot does not mean anything. We need to see them do that for the rest of the season.
