Eli Gold, voice of Alabama football, will be sidelined with health issues to begin 2022 season

Kickoff is still a month away but the Alabama Crimson Tide already have a scratch from the roster. Eli Gold, the voice of Alabama football since 1988, is dealing with health issues and will start the 2022 football season “on the bench,” the program announced Wednesday.

Chris Stewart will take over for Gold while he recovers. Stewart is currently an anchor for the Tide football broadcast. He also covers play-by-play duties for the Alabama basketball and baseball team.

Alabama also announced that Stewart will host “The Nick Saban Show” and “Hey, Coach” radio broadcasts when it returns on Aug. 18.

On top of calling Crimson Tide games, Eli Gold also hosted NASCAR Live on the Motor Racing Network from 1982 to 2016. The Brooklyn, New York native is now 68 years old.

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ESPN predicts every Alabama game in 2022

ESPN has released its game-by-game predictions for every game of the 2022 season. With Alabama having some of the highest expectations out of any team in the country, it’s no surprise that they are the favorite in every game on their schedule.

The Crimson Tide will have a successful season, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index. They have a 90% chance of winning or higher in half of their games this upcoming season. Within the SEC, the Crimson Tide are always a tough out. ESPN’s FPI gives LSU at home in November the best odds to beat Bama this season out of any other SEC team at 18.5%.

ESPN also predicts that Alabama football will handle business in its non-conference matchups, giving them a 99% chance of beating three out of their four non-conference opponents. However, their lowest odds of winning this season are at 75.3%. It’s for one of the most highly anticipated non-conference matchups of the year against Texas.