Greg McElroy labels his preseason Alabama ranking ‘dumb’

As a player, Greg McElroy was a star for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Now, as an analyst for ESPN, he breaks down the Crimson Tide and other teams around the country.

This year, McElroy had Alabama ranked third in the preseason. However, on his show Always College Football, he admitted that may have been a mistake.

“Number three was Alabama,” Greg McElroy said. “That was not smart. Dumb. They have some work in progress to figure out on the offensive line. I thought that’d be — here’s why I’m quantifying that as dumb because the way I thought it was going to look is not the way it’s looked up to this point.”

Alabama has had a few issues, mostly on the offensive side of the ball, this season. In particular, issues at the quarterback position and on the offensive line have hurt the Crimson Tide in the first half of the season.

“It might be smart when we look forward five, six weeks from now,” McElroy said. “But Alabama still has things that they’re ironing out on the offensive line. I think the defense is rounding into form. So, maybe our assessment of them leaning more on the defensive side of the football was smart, but at this point, they’re still very much a work in progress. So, to have them at number three ahead of some of the teams that are coming up probably was not the right decision.”

Alabama still has all of its goals ahead of it. The Crimson Tide haven’t lost in SEC play to this point in the season and if they keep winning could still win the SEC and play in the College Football Playoff. So, it’s not impossible that Greg McElroy ends up being right about Alabama.

First, Nick Saban and Alabama will need to take on the Texas A&M Aggies in a key SEC West game.

Paul Finebaum breaks down the SEC West implications in Alabama-Texas A&M game

The game between Alabama and Texas A&M is going to be key for the SEC West. As Paul Finebaum explained, it could give Alabama room to breathe in the SEC West race.

“I think for Alabama it’s the game to give them breathing room. But I still think there are too many other factors here, and I know that this may sound crazy with LSU, but I am not counting them out completely although it would be more fashionable to do that today,” Finebaum said.

“But I think for Alabama to win here that means you’ve got a head-to-head [win] against Ole Miss, head-to-head against A&M, and I think that puts them from a percentage standpoint in great shape.”