Nick Saban is gone and, just like that, I projected Alabama to finish No. 3 in the SEC in 2024. No.
3? We out here disrespecting the Tide? Like what, like they’re some token dark horse? Or, considering how much has fundamentally changed since the last time this outfit took the field, maybe the assumption that it’s still an obvious Playoff contender by default feels more like an exercise in ranking the logo? Either way ...
feels weird, right? Bama watchers speculated for years about life on the other side of the post-Saban divide, but now that the time has come, it really could go either way. The roster is not exactly a blank slate. There’s still gifted QB Jalen Milroe, a legitimate Heisman candidate on his good days, and a depth chart loaded with the typical backlog of blue-chip recruits.
But the mystique or inertia or je ne sais quoi that defined the dynasty for the better part of the past two decades was at low ebb even before Saban called it a career. From 2009-17 Alabama won 5 national titles in 9 years; since 2018, it claimed just 1 in 6 years, in a bizarro season conducted amid the chaos of a pandemic. There was certainly none of the old sense of inevitability during last year’s Playoff run, which felt more like a miracle than a birthright and ended with a thud in the semis.
Attrition hit the lineup hard (10 draft picks, 5 of them in the first 2 rounds, plus key portal departures on both sides of the ball), leaving more up-and-coming talent in its wake than reco.