🏈 Walsh: Which team has the best change to upset the Tide in 2014? My answer may surprise you.

[BAMANEWSBOT]

When it comes to predicting out a season beforehand, never mind in May, there are two very important considerations regarding the University of Alabama football team under Nick Saban:

1. Even though he’s won four national championships, Saban has only had one team finish with a perfect record (2009).
2. Despite that, Alabama has been favored in 54 consecutive games.

The last time Alabama was considered an underdog was the 2009 SEC Championship, when it faced Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow at Florida. That was three titles ago, never mind being part of a different decade.

Overall, Alabama’s record since 2008 is 72-9.

Nevertheless, the Crimson Tide lost their last two games of the 2013-14 season: at rival Auburn and then against Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, where they committed four turnovers that resulted in 28 points for the Sooners, who pulled out the 45-31 victory.

“We created a lot of the adversity that we faced ourselves in some of the things that we did and didn’t do,” Nick Saban said after the game.

“We didn’t play very well on defense in the first half. We didn’t play very well on third down. We didn’t get off the field in 3rd-and-long three or four times in the game, which were critical factors in the game,” he continued.

Anyone want to bet against Saban now? Alabama is already considered a huge favorite for the season opener against West Virginia in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta on Aug. 30.

Perhaps the better question is which game is Alabama most likely to lose in 2014-15?

.....

Alabama 35, West Virginia 13
Alabama 45, Florida Atlantic 10
Alabama 38, Southern Miss 6
Alabama 26, Florida 20
Ole Miss 24, Alabama 23

After back-to-back trips to Tuscaloosa, Ole Miss finally gets Alabama at home, and the three previous games on the schedule are Vanderbilt, Louisiana-Lafayette and Memphis.​

The Rebels are hoping last year’s top-notch recruiting class comes of age and they return 14 of 22 starters. Bo Wallace is one of the few established returning quarterbacks in the conference, but the offensive line has some question marks.

Alabama won last year’s game 25-0, but it was only up 9-0 at halftime when T.J. Yeldon’s 68-yard touchdown run broke the game open.

Don’t be surprised if the first real road game is similar, only closer, as the best time to pull off an upset of this Alabama team may be during the early part of the season.
​

Alabama 31, Arkansas 12
Alabama 33, Texas A&M 13
Alabama 42, Tennessee 10
Alabama 20, LSU 17
Alabama 22, Mississippi State 13
Alabama 45, Western Carolina
Alabama 28, Auburn 20

Early Game-by-Game Predictions for the 2014 Season

 

[bama alum]

Ole $i$$ won't be a gimme, that's for sure, but I don't see an upset brewing here at all. Bama's D is just too stout. The DL is good enough to cause the country boy enough problems, even with his talent receivers. I am looking forward to seeing either Brown or Humphrey with those talented receivers, although I think we could see them get burned a time or two in this game.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Oops, just saw this post lol I called Ole Miss as a trap game in the Alabama/Auburn trap games thread ..

I hope we crush them. We did struggle a bit last time but I think the o-line will be more "gelled" together, and our RBs will be tough to stop. Just gotta have the secondary clicking and we should be able to notch a W.