The Alabama Crimson Tide come in after not making the College Football Playoff for the second time in the last four seasons. Alabama comes into the 2023 campaign with a new signal caller and some turnover on defense. The Crimson Tide also brought in a new offensive coordinator in Tommy Rees. Saban has some questions that need to be answered in order to see where this Alabama team will be in 2023.
Offense
The Crimson Tide lost Bryce Young to the NFL and they need a new signal caller to lead the way. Alabama’s frontrunner right now is Jalen Milroe. Milroe appeared in eight games last year and started against Texas A&M. He got exposed for the limitations that he has in the passing game. This would create the style of offense that Jalen Hurts ran when he was at Alabama.
The other two options they have are former five star QB Ty Simpson or transfer Tyler Buchner. Whoever Alabama decides to go with, they will have a plethora of weapons at wide receiver. A few names are Ja’Corey Brooks, Malik Benson (JUCO transfer), and Isaiah Bond. Alabama needs to decide who their starter is going to be, but we won’t know until after the first couple games of the season.
Defense
Alabama’s front seven the last three seasons was led by Will Anderson. Without Anderson, the Crimson Tide need to find a new playmaker in their front seven. They do have Dallas Turner coming back which is huge for them. However, they are going to need someone else in their front seven to step up and be a real playmaker for this Alabama defense.
The secondary is going to be amazing this year. Their leader Kool-Aid McKinstry is back to lead this talented secondary. They have some good transfers coming in for their secondary. Trey Amos is coming in from Louisiana. Jaylen Key is coming in from UAB. They also are adding two talented freshmen in Caleb Downs (number one safety in 2023 class, 11th overall prospect), and Tony Mitchell (4-star safety, 7th overall safety in 2023 class). This team has some questions to replace some of the star power from a season ago. However, I do think this will be a top defense in the SEC this year.
Win Total Bet
Alabama’s win total is set at 10.5 on the FanDuel Sportsbook. The over is set at +148 odds and the under is set at -184 odds. Coming into the season with a question mark at who will be the quarterback for the season is going to be a rough one to overcome. Too many question marks for this Alabama team for my liking. I think there is a strong possibility that they don’t make the college football playoff yet again in 2023. The under odds are too high for my liking, so I would stay away from this win total bet at all.
Schedule Predictions
Win vs Middle Tennessee State (1-0)
Win vs Texas (2-0)
Blowout Win at South Florida (3-0)
Win vs Ole Miss (4-0)
Win at Mississippi State (5-0)
Loss at Texas A&M (5-1)
Win vs Arkansas (6-1)
Win vs Tennessee (7-1)
Loss vs LSU (7-2)
Win at Kentucky (8-2)
Blowout Win vs Chatanooga (9-2)
Win at Auburn (10-2)