Alabama may have improved to 5-1 on the season with its 26-20 SEC road victory over Texas A&M, but this year's Crimson Tide team is so far from perfect. The team keeps winning games with Jalen Milroe as the starting quarterback, but this does not feel like the championship-caliber team we have been accustomed to throughout the Nick Saban era. A lot can change, but we have seen six games.
The Crimson Tide may crawl back inside the top 10, depending on how the last two windows of games go, as well as what the AP voters think of the Texas Longhorns after their upset defeat to arch-rival Oklahoma. Either way, Alabama is not anywhere close to being a top-four team at this juncture. That could change in a few weeks, but they will have to earn it. For now, Alabama is just another team.
So with the Crimson Tide at the halfway point of the season, are there any games where they could conceivably slip up for a second time this year? What if I told you there might be three more conference games where an Alabama L is quite possible? No, they are not dropping all three, but two of three is not out of the question. They might win all three, but they also could lose one of them, too.
Here are the three regular-season games left where the Crimson Tide seem to be very vulnerable.
3. Kentucky Wildcats have the potential to be a 10-win team this season
This game may be slightly more than a month out, but hear me out. I think the Kentucky Wildcats' combination of run and pass could make them especially dangerous in their mid-November meeting in Lexington. While Kentucky still has to play the likes of Georgia and Tennessee in SEC East play, Alabama may not be anywhere near as good as Georgia and may be worse than Tennessee this year.
A lot of this has to do with Liam Coen's offense centered around quarterback Devin Leary and running back Ray Davis. We know that this Mark Stoops-led team will be well-coached. While I am not saying that Kentucky has enough offensive firepower to hang with anyone in a shootout, can you say the same thing about Alabama in its current iteration? If it is a lower-scoring game, sure, why not?
The other interesting wrinkle in this for UK is that their game with Alabama will come as the third of three SEC games for Alabama against possibly ranked opponents. The first two, well, that would be a pair of home games vs. Tennessee before their bye week and then for the big one vs. LSU, per usual. While I doubt Alabama will sleepwalk vs. Kentucky, if that is a night game in Lexington, just watch out.
The only thing making this potential trap game anything more than that is Kentucky's football history.
2. Tennessee Volunteers could make it back-to-back over Crimson Tide
While I have my reservations about Tennessee celebrating consecutive Third Saturdays in October wih victory cigars, again, this is not the same Alabama team. It was a thrilling shootout in primetime a year ago in Knoxville, but there is a reason why Alabama has dominated this rivalry series so much of late. Tennessee was in the toilet as a program, but seems to have found its level under Josh Heupel.
This is the next game up where Alabama could realistically fall. Arkansas is not doing anything for me, but if the CrimsonTide were to lose to Sam Pittman's Razorbacks, then we have bigger fish to fry in Tuscaloosa, aight. Again, this is a major rivalry game for both teams, so really anything can happen. The big difference between the Third Saturday in October and the Iron Bowl is Auburn's viability.
While I suppose Auburn could beat Alabama in the Iron Bowl because it is in Auburn, let's not count our chickens before they hatch. The big reason why I think Tennessee has a decent shot at getting two in a row past Alabama is that Heupel is not Butch Jones. He seems to know what he is doing as a head coach. Given Alabama's coaching staff attrition, and you can understand a potential upset here.
This possible Tide slip-up is all about where Tennessee is at as a program more than anything else.
1. Brian Kelly's LSU Tigers electric offense could win in an epic shootout
And we have arrived at Alabama-LSU, an SEC West rivalry that is so good that it does not even have a nickname. Brian Kelly's Bayou Bengals got the best of Nick Saban's Tide in overtime on a great scramble by quarterback Jayden Daniels. While this rendition will be in Tuscaloosa this season, I envision LSU being incredibly battle-tested. They might have two losses, but this team is dangerous.
First-half losses to Florida State and Ole Miss in the Magnolia Bowl have pretty much eliminated LSU from playoff contention. The Tigers did get a solid win over a top-25 Missouri team in CoMo this weekend, but they may not be good enough to get to Atlanta, especially not having the head-to-head tiebreaker over Ole Miss. Of course, they just might be good enough to shock Alabama once again.
Another win over Saban will do wonders for Kelly's reputation in Baton Rouge. This is why LSU hired Kelly away from Notre Dame, and why he left an excellent job in South Bend in the first place. LSU wanted a head coach who could regularly contend for championships, and Kelly wanted to play in championship settings. Another win over the Crimson Tide will really add heat to this SEC rivalry.
Alabama may have a bye before this game, but it does not really matter. This is the LSU game, baby!
