Greg McElroy shares what Alabama not winning SEC West would mean

Alabama has to win the SEC West this year, right? It’s about time to see Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide compete for another SEC title run that leads to a College Football Playoff berth.

If not, criticism will be at an all-time high for the longtime Alabama head coach. One of Saban’s first quarterbacks, now a college football analyst, Greg McElroy, revealed what could go wrong for the Crimson Tide this season that would lead them to be on the outside looking in when the postseason rolls around.

“A couple of things [could happen]. One, either LSU or the field has played up to their potential. That doesn’t necessarily mean Alabama is not a good football team,” McElroy said. “Last year, they didn’t win the SEC West, still made their way to the New Year’s Six and performed adequately against the Big 12 Champion Kansas State.

“I don’t think it’s an indicator of Alabama suddenly coming back to Earth. If anything, if you’re going to win the SEC West this year, it’s not going to be the lesser of many evils. It’s going to be [another team] went out and took it like LSU did last year.”

It also means that Alabama will likely have lost a game against LSU on their home field, which will be the first time since 2019 that has happened. LSU is the most likely upset candidate, but McElroy pointed out that there are some dark horse candidates to potentially hand Alabama a rare regular season loss.

The Crimson Tide travels to Texas A&M this season and as the point totals stand in Vegas, the Aggies are nine-point underdogs on their home field — the smallest expected margin of victory for the Tide in conference play.

“If Alabama doesn’t win the SEC West this year, it will be disappointing, naturally, for Nick Saban,” McElroy said of his former coach. “They’ve always responded extremely well to disappointment in the past. He’s always said, ‘never waste a failure,’ and by all counts, by their standards, by their expectations, it was in many ways a failure.”

Only time will tell if the Crimson Tide is able to regain their status as a College Football Playoff regular, but hitting the panic button is a story for another day. First, Alabama will focus on what’s in front of them — and 2023 could end up being the turning point for the Tide to get back to their championship standard, or they might come crashing down to reality with the rest of us.