Although Alabama can still technically achieve everything it wants to this season, a loss to Tennessee in the Third Saturday in October may be too much to overcome. The Crimson Tide and the Volunteers each have a loss on the season. While Alabama's is to Texas in the non-conference, it is hard to see the Tide making the final four-team College Football Playoff with two losses well before Halloween.
While much has been made about the inconsistent play of starting quarterback Jalen Milroe, there is a much more pervasive issue plaguing the Crimson Tide's offense: The offensive line is not what it used to be. Cody Godwin of 247Sports outlined perfectly what is wrong with the Alabama front-five. That unit carried massive expectations into the season, but has not come close to living up to them.
A big takeaway from his column was that although Milroe does create some sacks behind the line of scrimmage because of his mobility, he still does not have enough time to make plays down the field. Alabama has allowed its quarterbacks to be sacked a combined 31 times through seven games. We are talking about nearly 4.5 sacks allowed per game. This has also hurt the Alabama rushing attack.
You have to wonder how much of this falls on new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees coming over from Notre Dame, as well as how the recruiting dynamic has changed in the trenches since former offensive line coach Kyle Flood followed former Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian over to Texas. One thing is for sure. Offensive line play is no longer an issue for the Longhorns program.
Seemingly, Alabama's hopes and dreams for this year are holding on by a thread because of its line.
Alabama's biggest issue is not QB Jalen Milroe, but its offensive line
The thing that I keep going back to is this Alabama offense just kind of lacks dynamism. It has since losing the 2021 national championship game to Georgia up in Indianapolis. Where are the Jameson Williamses and John Metchie III's in their receiving corps? Milroe is not Bryce Young, but we are seeing how many offensive deficiencies he covered up during his final season with the Crimson Tide.
In theory, Alabama will want to lean on the ground game with Jase McClellan and company, but the offensive line needs to play up to standard for that to happen. You factor that in with the Crimson Tide also bringing in a newish defensive coordinator in Kevin Steele for a third time, and it is hard to see Alabama consistently playing complementary football vs. a worthy foe, not an awful Arkansas team.
This current setup might work against the bottom half of the SEC, but what is it going to look like vs. more ranked opponents potentially on the Alabama schedule, whether that be Tennessee this weekend, LSU in three weeks, Kentucky in a month or potentially either Georgia or Tennessee in a rematch over in Atlanta? Time is on Alabama's side to fix this, but they have no margin for error either.
All it may take is one strip-sack fumble to flip a winnable game for Alabama into a second defeat.
