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Alabama football is celebrating on Sunday, after picking up a thrilling 41-34 victory over Georgia. The Crimson Tide sprinted out to a huge lead but needed a late stop on defense to seal the victory. The Crimson Tide are clearly in the driver's seat in the SEC, although Texas also has something to say about that.
Despite the victory on Saturday, there are a few things to worry about. Here are the biggest concerns moving forward for Alabama, who is looking to return to the College Football Playoff.
Alabama's defense nearly blew a huge lead against Georgia
The Crimson Tide have some issues to correct on defense. The team had a 28-0 lead in the game at one point, but the Bulldogs barked back with a vengeance in the second half. Alabama needed a red zone turnover in the final minute of the game to avoid sending the contest into overtime. This was after the squad raced out to a 30-7 halftime lead.
Alabama's pass defense got gashed in the Georgia game. The Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck rolled to 439 yards of passing offense in the game, with three touchdowns. Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, he also threw three interceptions. But Alabama can't survive week-to-week giving up that much through the air.
The team's defense did its job on third down, giving up just 3-for-15 on third down conversions. It was on fourth down, however, where Alabama football really struggled. Georgia was 5-for-5 in fourth down efficiency. This is going to kill the Crimson Tide moving forward, if they can't get off the field on fourth down.
The defensive struggles overall were masked in many ways by the fact that Alabama won. Not only did they win, but it was because of their defense that they got the victory. Alabama defensive back Zabien Brown made a stellar play to intercept Beck with less than a minute to go in the game in the red zone.
“When you face a really good football team, you know there's going to be a strong push,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said, per ESPN. “We pushed each other to the very end.”
There is another reason to be concerned moving ahead.
The schedule gets no easier for Alabama football
At time of writing, the Crimson Tide are the no.1 team in the country. That's according to the latest Associated Press College Football poll. Alabama's future schedule includes games with four more ranked teams. Three of those are road games, which makes a tough SEC schedule even more rigid.
The Crimson Tide still have to go to Tennessee, Oklahoma and LSU. They have a key home game against Missouri. Can the Alabama football team afford to give up 500 plus yards of offense against any of those teams? Most definitely not. Georgia rolled up 519 total yards in this game, and Alabama may not be able to survive if it does that on the road.
Alabama will be facing some more stellar wide receivers in those matchups as well. That includes preseason All-SEC First-Team wideout Luther Burden III, who plays for Missouri. He's probably licking his chops at the chance to put up big numbers against this Alabama defense.
How will Kalen DeBoer coach now that he's the hunted?
Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer finds himself in an unfamiliar position. The new coach in Tuscaloosa is ranked no. 1 for the first time ever as a head coach. How will he be able to handle the pressure of coaching the no. 1 team in the country?
That's certainly an area for concern. When Nick Saban was running things, it was expected for Alabama football to be ranked no. 1. Many college football fans didn't think Alabama would hold that ranking in DeBoer's first season, but he's got it. It's up to him to show that this Crimson Tide squad hasn't missed a step since Nick Saban retired.
Alabama next plays Vanderbilt on Saturday, in their first opportunity to address these concerns and keep an undefeated season going. Time will tell if this squad is able to keep the championship mentality in Tuscaloosa.
