Spring check-in: Is Alabama a national contender in year one?

There's a wide variety of opinions about Alabama and what they can be in year one under new head coach Kalen DeBoer.

The other day my guy Paul Wadlington, who likes to give degenerate gambling advice on betting college football over at Inside Texas, called me about Colorado.

“This is a sanity check,” he said, “but I’m going to read you their schedule and you tell me how many wins you think are there.”

As of that conversation, Paul didn’t think much of Deion Sanders coaching that team beyond 5.5 wins. I was actually bullish on Colorado last year because they had some skill talents, an up and coming Veer and Shoot offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, their new O-line was all veteran transfers from G5 schools, and their schedule was set up for a couple of early hype wins over TCU and Nebraska before everyone realized those teams weren’t very good.

We’re both very bearish on Colorado now, in light of Deion going completely insane after taking the public Oregon beating.

Later I texted him and said, “Hey know what’s a great bet?” I’d just seen another national analyst list Alabama as a possible National Championship team and was thinking they were ripe for fading.

“RFK Jr 2024?” he quipped back. But I’d just looked up the Alabama over/under and found it to be at a very modest 9.5. Yet elsewhere they have the 5th best odds still for winning the title.

People don’t know what to do with the combination of talent and unknowns. After watching their spring game, I’m less confident than I was before about how this Alabama season will go.