Greg McElroy: Alabama's national perception hangs in the balance vs. Ole Miss
Greg McElroy believes much more than a conference victory is at stake for Alabama against Ole Miss on Saturday.
According to the former Crimson Tide quarterback, the aura of Nick Saban’s team is on the line, and could quickly dissipate if Alabama falls to Lane Kiffin and the Rebels inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
“I think perception is a big one,” McElroy said, regarding what’s at stake for Alabama on Saturday, via ESPN’s Get Up. “Obviously, Bama forever, most of the time, when people stepped on the field before they even kicked it off, because Bama had an intimidation factor over pretty much everybody that they played. Well that intimidation factor is right now kind of in the balance. Now they still have excellent players, but the margin for error is significantly smaller than it’s been in the past. Partly because Bama isn’t as deep as they once were because of the portal era, but also because of so many other teams, those teams that were way behind, have now caught up.
“So I think it’ll have a pretty big impact on just how Bama is perceived moving forward. I still think they can beat everyone on their schedule, but they’ll have to play their A-game to do it. Where as back in the day, they could play their B-minus, C-plus game and still win comfortably against pretty much everyone they played.”
Alas, McElroy makes some fascinating points, and a ton of sense when you think about it. While Alabama’s College Football Playoff hopes would likely be completely dashed with a loss to Ole Miss, a lot more than that is on the line for the Crimson Tide.
History tells us that Nick Saban will have Alabama roaring and ready to rock, but these are different times in the college football world. Greg McElroy and many others will be waiting patiently to see how the Crimson Tide respond on Saturday.
Desmond Howard: Alabama is on upset alert vs. Ole Miss
Meanwhile, optimism around Alabama isn’t as high as it was after the last two weekends. That’s why, with another Top-25 matchup on deck, Desmond Howard believes the Crimson Tide very well could, or will, lose to Ole Miss on Saturday.
Howard joined ‘Get Up’ on Friday and spoke briefly about Alabama’s current state. Howard started by saying that the quarterback spot, although it has been decided, is still a concern for him. With that on top of the pressure of already having one loss, he sees the Rebels coming into Bryant-Denny and at least giving the Tide a scare.
“It’s a carousel of quarterbacks for Nick Saban,” said Howard. “We’ve heard him talk about quarterbacks and never heard him so depressed about a quarterback situation in my life. I think this game is huge for them and I think they should be on upset alert at home.”
You can never count out Alabama under Saban, especially at home. Still, as the Crimson Tide open conference play tomorrow afternoon, Ole Miss could end up sending their season into a real spiral if Howard is right about the potential for an upset.
On3’s Sam Gillenwater contributed to this article.