2 reasons Alabama football will repeat as national champions
By John Buhler
The Alabama football program is well-equipped to win back-to-back national championships.
Alabama football is coming off its best season of the Nick Saban era.
The Alabama Crimson Tide went 10-0 in SEC play before throttling the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Rose Bowl and the Ohio State Buckeyes in the national championship.
Even if they lost so much talent to the 2021 NFL Draft, Alabama should be among the favorites to win the College Football Playoff next season. They can absolutely repeat.
Here are two reasons Saban will win his seventh national title at Alabama next January.
Alabama football: 2 reasons why Crimson Tide repeat as national champions
2. To date, no Nick Saban disciple has ever beaten his mentor on the field
Look. This is going to be a thing until it isn’t. One of the greatest examples of Saban’s dominance as a college head coach is that none of his former assistants have ever beaten him on the gridiron. While one of his disciples is bound to get the best of him and the Crimson Tide at some point, how sure are you that it is going to happen in 2021? He will have to take on three disciples this season.
Alabama will face Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels and Jimbo Fisher’s Texas A&M Aggies during the regular season. Crimson Tide fans should also expect to see Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs in Atlanta for the 2021 SEC Championship in early December. Though Fisher, Kiffin and Smart all have the potential to hand Saban his first loss to a mentee, we will believe it when it happens.
The reason this is important is having the head-to-head tiebreaker over Georgia and Texas A&M likely means Alabama wins the SEC, as they are the three SEC teams with the best shot of making the playoff. Ole Miss should be a top-25 team this year as well. Simply put, if Alabama wins those three games, the Crimson Tide will get back into the playoff as a top-two seed, and there you go.
While a head-coaching advantage helps, it is about the players on the field more than anything.