NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On Wednesday at the SEC Media Days hullaballoo, a football player representing one of the conference’s member schools admitted to repeatedly watching one of Georgia’s College Football Playoff Championship games as motivation.
“I know our guys — we can compete with them,” he said.
The funny, almost surreal aspect of the young man making this proclamation — he wore a necktie and pocket square that were distinctly crimson, the habiliments of Alabama star offensive tackle JC Latham.
Behold the world we inhabit in 2023. Driverless cars, Britney Spears is eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Alabama, perhaps begrudgingly, is not the presumptive king of the SEC and, by extension, all of college football.
The ascension of the football machine from Athens raises the question — are the best days of Alabama coach Nick Saban’s dynasty in the past?
Admittedly, proclaiming the demise of the Alabama juggernaut has been a preoccupation of media dating back at least to 2013. Since the first, premature notices of their days being numbered, the Tide have won three national titles since and played in the College Football Playoff title game an additional three times. The most recent title, Saban’s sixth at Alabama, was won at the end of the 2020 season, followed by a title-game loss the following season. (Georgia fans may have memories of that game.)
But sunset has to fall eventually on Saban and Alabama, right? And the belief that it has finally arrived, going into Saban’s 17th season in Tuscaloosa, has gained some traction. There’s evidence for it, starting with Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs having won the past two national titles and chasing their third.
Last year, the Tide lost two regular-season games for only the second time in the past 12 seasons. Which, granted, would rate as concerning almost nowhere else, but regardless, failed to meet Alabama’s championship standards.
Going into the 2023 season, there is more cause to doubt the Tide’s chances to reclaim their status as the SEC’s joyless bully. For the fourth time in his Alabama career, Saban had to replace both of his coordinators, hiring Tommy Rees from Notre Dame to run the offense and bringing back Kevin Steele as his defensive coordinator. Saban called Rees “one of the brightest young guys that I’ve seen in a long time in this business.” Saban’s bouquet for Steele was not quite as florid. He said that Steele “obviously has been with us before, so he understands the program and the expectation,” words that surely sent Steele scurrying to update his LinkedIn page.
And while there’s reason for optimism for the leadership of both, it will require an adjustment on offense and defense.
Further, both Rees and Steele have puzzles to solve. The quarterback situation, particularly after losing Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young to the NFL, is uncertain. After going through spring practice with Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson, Saban evidently wasn’t sufficiently won over by either and brought in Tyler Buchner from Notre Dame through the transfer portal. Saban asserted Wednesday that no decision had been made on designating a starter.
The Tide defense finished in the top 10 in total defense once in the past five seasons, the past four under the direction of coordinator Pete Golding, now at Ole Miss. The average ranking in that time was 17.4, so it’s a problem that just about any other FBS head coach would trade his buyout clause for. But at Alabama, it has been an unseemly drop.
In the 10 years before, starting with Saban’s second year (when Saban promoted a 32-year-old Smart to be his defensive coordinator, demoting Steele), Alabama ranked in the top five nine times, including first three times.
On top of that, ESPN’s metrics ranked Alabama 125th in returning production.
“I think experience matters, I really do, but I also think that when you have young players who are hungry and have great energy and enthusiasm, that’s helpful to the team chemistry as well,” Saban said.
Further, LSU and coach Brian Kelly have emerged as a sturdy contestant for the SEC West title in the conference’s final season of its two-division alignment.
All that said, if Alabama is in decline, the ramp it’s rolling down is practically flat. The Tide’s down season still resulted in an 11-2 record and No. 5 final ranking. Saban has continued to recruit at the highest level. His team will probably start the season as a top-five team. And being positioned behind Georgia has been galling and motivating.
Latham, the crimson-adorned offensive tackle, called the lowered expectations disrespectful.
“I don’t appreciate that at all,” he said. “Understanding that, I know this group, we’re going to win it all — national championship, undefeated, Joe Moore (Award) and I want the Outland (Trophy),” referencing the awards given to the nation’s top offensive line and top interior lineman, respectively.
It would sound like hot air from players from most any other school, but it gives pause that it was issued by a player designated as a spokesman for the Tide, a lot not known for its braggadocio.
A dynasty ending? A gauntlet has been thrown down for plucky, scrappy Alabama.
