Kirk Herbstreit: There are some concerns with Alabama

The concerns about No. 1 Alabama have continued to roll in following its close victory over No. 11 Florida in Week 3. Alabama got out to a big lead in the game but sputtered late. Florida came within a late two-point conversion from tying the game. The Crimson Tide came away with the win, but many experts have serious concerns about the team moving forward. ESPN College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit is one of those that has some concerns about Nick Saban’s Alabama squad.

Herbstreit joined Paul Finebaum on The Paul Finebaum Show earlier in the week. There, he addressed his thoughts of Alabama’s performance against Florida and admitted that he has concerns.

Herbstreit: Alabama has work to do offensively

Alabama had offensive line issues in the win over Florida. The atmosphere is the loudest road atmosphere Alabama has seen this season, and that created some issues for an offense that is still developing. For Herbstreit, those issues have left him wondering if Alabama is as dominant as everyone thought they were.

“There’s some concerns with Alabama,” Herbstreit said on the Paul Finebaum Show. “I mean, we all wanted to after we watched them in the first couple of weeks put them in the championship. It’s Nick Saban, it’s Alabama. It doesn’t matter who’s on the roster, they’re in. But going to Florida, as you know, they’ve moved offensive linemen around. You’ve got one returning starter at the same position that he played a year ago.

“You’ve got a new offensive line coach in in Doug Marrone. You got a new offensive coordinator, new quarterback. On the road, they got whipped up front in certain series in that game. So, I think it just shows that Alabama’s got work to do, especially offensively. They’ve got to continue to build continuity on that side of the ball. The ceiling is incredibly high with Bryce Young and the receivers.

Alabama right guard Emil Ekiyor Jr. also admitted earlier in the week that the team struggled to communicate offensively due to the crowd noise in Gainesville. Alabama is averaging 6.1 yards per play through three games after averaging 7.8 yards per play last season. The Crimson Tide averaged over six plays of 20 yards or more per game last season, but have just ten so far this season.

While Alabama undoubtedly has some issues and concerns to work through, Week 3’s game also says a lot about how strong of a team Florida is. As the SEC gauntlet gets tougher over the coming weeks, it could be an interesting race to the SEC Championship game.

“I think after the way Georgia has looked, we were just like, ‘all right, Georgia and Bama in Atlanta, we’ll see them in December,’” Herbstreit said. “Now, I don’t know. I’m fired up to watch how the SEC plays out this year.”