Greg McElroy sees few losses on Alabama's 2024 schedule

Alabama’s first season post–Nick Saban is one that will have tons of attention on it to see how Kalen DeBoer handles the new job. Still, Greg McElroy sees it being more of the same as far as the winning ways of the Crimson Tide.

McElroy assessed ‘Bama’s schedule during a recent episode of ‘Always College Football’. While he respects the level of competition early on on the slate, he only sees one obvious game over the first half of the season that’ll be a question mark for the Tide.

“Let’s go through the schedule. Western Kentucky, South Florida, at Wisconsin? Three, I think, good, solid non-conference opponents,” McElroy noted. “I think Western Kentucky is a bowl team, I think South Florida is a bowl team. I think Wisconsin is a bowl team this year and you go to Camp Randall there on September 14th.”

“Georgia comes to you after that. That’ll be a very difficult game. Of course it’s a losable one, naturally. It’s ‘Bama-Georgia. It’s two of the best programs in the sport. So that game is a toss-up for sure, even though it’s there in Bryant-Denny,” said McElroy. “At Vanderbilt? That should be one that they handle. South Carolina comes to them? That’s one that they should handle. So, at worst for ‘Bama, you’re looking at a 5-1 start – at worst. Potentially 6-0 – very much within the realm of possibility.”

Alabama would obviously take 6-0 or 5-1 to start the DeBoer era in T-Town. However, with the second half of their season in conference play, McElroy thinks there’ll be a few more bumps, including three road games in the league along with two more on their home turf.

“Down the stretch is where it gets much more difficult. Third Saturday in October – at Tennessee. Missouri comes to them after that,” said McElroy. “I do think Alabama matches up pretty well against Missouri. Granted, Missouri has got a good passing attack, excellent wide receiver corps but I do think they match up pretty well offensively against a defense that I think does have some question marks coming into the season. That game is in Bryant-Denny but it is certainly a losable one if they don’t play well.”

“At LSU? Of course, a very difficult game and one that is always a toss-up there for the Crimson Tide,” McElroy continued. “They’re at Oklahoma on November 23rd and they are against Auburn at home on the final weekend of the season.”

In total, that’s five games that McElroy listed as some form of challenge for Alabama. With him thinking that they won’t lose all of them, though, he doesn’t have them dropping many games at all in 2024.

“You look at it – how many games are losable? I mean five, perhaps. How many do you really think they’re going to lose? Man, I have a hard time thinking that Alabama is going to lose once, maybe twice on their home field this year. I just don’t see it,” said McElroy. “Whether they get Georgia, whether they get Missouri, whether they get Auburn? I just don’t think it’s likely that they’re going to lose multiple games on their home field. They might lose one but I can’t imagine them losing multiple.”

“On the road at Tennessee? Extremely difficult game. On the road at LSU? Very difficult game. And that road trip to Oklahoma right before The Iron Bowl? Also very challenging,” McElroy said. “But I think ‘Bama right now is a little bit ahead of Oklahoma there, especially if they go on the road.”

Alabama could certainly lose some more games than they’re used to in the fall as they start their first year under DeBoer. However, for now, McElroy just doesn’t examine it that way, which is why he has them posting a similar successful record come kickoff later this year.