Paul Finebaum: Alabama is capable of winning a national championship

After suffering narrow losses to Tennessee and LSU a season ago, Alabama completed their revenge tour this weekend. The Crimson Tide defeated the Volunteers prior to their bye week and did the same versus the Tigers this weekend, beating LSU 42-28 on Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Some doubts were circulating early in the season regarding the Crimson Tide, suffering a double-digit home loss to Texas followed by an uncharacteristic poor performance in a win over South Florida. But since then Alabama has put together six straight wins versus SEC opponents to remain perfect in conference play this season as they sit atop the SEC West standings.

Their statement win on Saturday has college football analyst Paul Finebaum believing that the sky is the limit for Alabama, which he shared with Cole Cubelic and Greg McElroy on ‘McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning’ Monday.

“There’s no question this team is capable of winning a national championship and I think early in the season, maybe before the season Cole I should say, I thought they were perhaps a playoff team. But Saturday night put the exclamation point on that project,” Finebaum said.

The Crimson Tide are still looking from the outside in regarding the College Football Playoff picture, still ranked the No. 8 team in the country following their win over LSU. But there’s no question that the latest has been the greatest for Alabama, as their recent performances have resembled a championship-caliber team much more than their early season showings.

“They’re capable, the rest of it is pretty self-evident,” Finebaum said. “But they played brilliantly and they did it at the right time and I think [Nick] Saban said afterwards about being a complete game. They’ve always been capable of that, they just haven’t done it.”

Alabama’s defense has been consistent for them all season, holding opponents to just 17.8 points per game ranking second in the SEC only behind Georgia. But their offense has been a work in progress and one that thankfully for Crimson Tide fans seems to be peaking at the right time.

The Alabama offense has increased their point total in each of their last three games, with quarterback Jalen Milroe continuing to grow as a dual-threat weapon in front of our eyes. Versus the Tigers, he accounted for 374 yards of total offense, becoming the first Alabama quarterback in school history to rush for four touchdowns in a single game.

There’s no question that the Crimson Tide are catching their stride at the right time, and it will be interesting to see if a strong finish to the regular season and potentially in the SEC Championship game could insert them into the College Football Playoff conversation.