Brett McMurphy knows the University of Alabama controls the college football dialogue.
The art of picking against the Crimson Tide will be page clicks and conversation, but the tactic does not in Nick Saban getting left out of the national championship discussion. He has won six national titles with the Tide and is pursuing a seventh one.
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Saban came close in 2021, but injuries proved too much for Alabama to overcome. He returns a healthy roster of veterans and young talent, and the Tide has a schedule it can navigate. The 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship Game will be at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. Bryce Young could secure a national title in his home state as a quarterback. Alabama is graduating athletes to the NFL Draft, but it returns the two top players in college football. Murphy, a College Football insider for The Action Network, told Cole Cubelic and Greg McElroy that he can’t pick against Alabama to win the 2023 CFP title game.
.@ActionNetworkHQ‘s own @Brett_McMurphy joined @MacandCube to discuss his Never-Too-Early Bowl Projections for next season & why he can’t pick against @AlabamaFTBL. pic.twitter.com/oujIIgRMV1
— WJOX 94.5 FM (@WJOX945) February 15, 2022
“Every year when you do these preseason predictions, you look at Alabama, and it’s a cookie-cutter, it is the same thing,” McMurphy said. “They lost half a dozen guys to the first round of the NFL Draft. Saban loses two or three assistant coaches or coordinators or one coordinator. They lose all of this talent, and we wonder how are they going to reload? They do it every year, and I think looking at this year’s team, I always thought Alabama would be better next year. It looks like Saban is going to keep both coordinators. Even if they do make changes there, I’ve learned you can be cute and pick against Alabama, but you’re going to be wrong. I think Alabama, with Bryce Young coming back, they are my pick to win it right now.”
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Saban has Bill O’Brien and Pete Golding on staff as his coordinators. No NFL team has made a move for O’Brien, and Golding has been on staff since 2018. Alabama signed the No. 2 recruiting class for the year, and some of those guys have a chance to make an impact.
We will see how the Tide takes advantage in the fall.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
