Opinion: Play Time is Over, 2023 Crimson Tide is for Real

Don't look now, but Nick Saban's latest team at Alabama is a serious contender for the national title.

Now it begins.

If you’re looking for a game, a quarter, a sequence in the 2023 college football season in an effort to pinpoint when the rest of college football suddenly went “Uh-oh” about the Alabama Crimson Tide, it happened Saturday morning.

Granted, the last two wins against Tennessee and LSU were both impressive, but this was different. Before high noon struck, the home crowd at Kentucky was already at an emotional low as Alabama was clearly playing at a different level. In the process, Nick Saban’s team took another step in its evolution this season, and showed exactly just how far it’s already come this fall,

The story of the 2023 team was never going to be one of superstars, or of a team that rode the coattails of its predecessors. With nearly all of the key people involved new, both among players an coordinators, Alabama had to find its way and develop over the long haul. 

Man, has it ever. Granted, the aim all along was the same as usual, for the Crimson Tide to be playing its best football following the bye week, in November. Not only is this team doing exactly that, but everyone can see that the upward trajectory can continue for a while. That's the mark of a team that has to be taken seriously as a strong contender. 

How many ways can Alabama beat you? A lot, and the Crimson Tide is only adding to the list. 

For example: How good does the offensive line look now? It didn't give up a sack while Alabama amassed well over 400 yards in the 49-21 victory.  

Only two significant things didn’t go Alabama's way at Kroger Field, and the first wasn't much of a setback. 

1) Sophomore quarterback Jalen Milroe suffered what appeared to be a painful thigh injury that had him hobbling the rest of the day. Yet he was still part of six touchdowns, three passing and three rushing. 

"It hurt," he said before praising his team's overall performance during its first game since Oct. 7. 

2) Kool-Aid McKinstry had another mistake while trying to field a punt return. The muff resulted in a turnover.

With 4:13 to go in the second quarter, not only did it give Kentucky the ball for the first time in Alabama territory, but at that point the Wildcats had just 3 yards of total offense. Their offensive line got run over on a third-down blitz to end the first possession, and the second came to a quicker end when sophomore cornerback Terrion Arnold knocked the ball loose that nearly resulted in a scoop-and-score by freshman safety Caleb Downs. Instead, Milroe subsequently pushed his way into the end zone for an early 21-point lead.

Kentucky did score off the punt mishap, Tayvion Robinson on a well-executed 6-yard touchdown reception that the secondary didn't play correctly, but it had the feel of the Wildcats knowing that would be their biggest highlight of the day. Alabama was on a roll. The kind that can extend well beyond a game.

It wasn’t so much what the scoreboard indicated at that point, rather how Alabama was executing. It had an unstoppable attitude, a swagger fans haven’t seen in a while. The Crimson Tide came out hot and took immediate control of the game like the Kentucky mascot Scratch had tried to lift his leg on Miss Terry.

No Jermaine Burton (ill). No Ja’Corey Brooks (shoulder). No problem for the offense, which has developed impressive depth among the playmakers. Even without two of his top wide receivers, Milroe completed his first seven passes for 108 yards. Scoring the early touchdowns were sophomore tight end Amari Niblack and sophomore Kobe Prentice, followed by senior running back Roydell Williams, as Alabama attacked in waves.

“I like the way we started,” Saban told the sideline reporter near the end of the first quarter, finding fault in just the momentum loss from the turnover. 

Again, though, pay attention to the how. Millroe’s evolution as a quarterback has been both impressive and remarkable, as has Alabama’s ability to utilize his impressive skills.

New coordinator Tommy Rees, who was heavily criticized by some earlier this season  told ESPN that Alabama was running things that hadn’t been in the offense three weeks previous. Adapting to his personnel, the play-calling had been changed to give Milroe clearer reads and decisions, plus the Crimson Tide was taking full advantage of his running ability and his continual threat to break into open field.

The first two touchdown passes were great examples of both. On the first, Milroe led the safety and then turned and hit Niblack for the 26-year score. The 10-play, 80-yard drive (lasting 5 minutes, 13 seconds), with Alabama pushing Kentucky around up front, marked the first time since the season opener that the Crimson Tide scored on its initial possession. On the latter, when Milroe stepped up, the secondary reacted just enough that Prentice was left open for the 40-yard strike. 

"I haven’t played anybody like him this year," Kentucky defensive back Maxwell Hairston said. "Last year he gives like an Anthony Richardson-type of game.

Another example was on display on his third touchdown pass, early in the second quarter. When the quarterback rolled to his right to buy time and extend the play, the defender came off coverage of Williams to deal with the running threat, and the result was another 26-yard touchdown.

Was Milroe perfect? No. His interception late in the first half was a reminder that he’s still growing and evolving in the role, much like the team. 

“Perfect example is the USF game, even though he didn’t play, he was resilient,"
 sophomore guard Tyler Booker said about his quarterback. "He did everything in his power to help us win, and his role that day was encouraging. Just seeing that from the quarterback — seeing that from one of the leaders on the team was very inspiring, and it’s just contagious. Everybody feels it. That’s just who we are as a team and we just got to keep that going.”

Of course, the turnover was nullified by Arnold’s impressive pick. And like the offense, the defense was missing a couple of key contributors with sophomore linebacker Deontae Lawson and senior safety Kaylen Key out, and for the most part was still swarming and imposing. 

But take a moment and go back and look at all the names in this column. How many of them were significant contributors before this season? How many of them are sophomores or younger?

"It's been fun" Saban said during his postgame press conference. "A lot of naysayers that didn’t believe in these guys.” 

It took time for this group to come together, and with two regular-season games remaining Crimson Tide fans can't help but be excited about their still-developing potential. 

So while it’s absolutely ridiculous that the College Football Playoff selection committee still has Alabama at No. 8 following the impressive back-to-back wins against the two teams it lost to a year ago, the ranking is also pretty irrelevant. The Crimson Tide’s path to the semifinals is clear, win out and beat two-time reigning champion Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

The real season, the one when biggest, shiniest rings are won, now begins for Alabama, and its success comes down to one thing: How much better can the Crimson Tide get between now and that looming showdown at Atlanta on December 2.

Christopher Walsh's column regularly appears on BamaCentral 

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