Paul Finebaum backs Alabama as national championship contender after Week 6

Paul Finebaum is all in on the Crimson Tide. During an appearance on First Take on Tuesday, the ESPN analyst explained why he believes Alabama could win the national championship this season.

“They are playing with an amazing amount of confidence,” Finebaum said. “I still can’t explain what happened against Florida State, and I know how you feel about that, and that’s fine. But, they are really an elite team right now. And Ty Simpson, the quarterback, is playing as well as anyone in the country. They have wide receivers. They have a very strong offensive line. Their defense has held up.

“And, I realize they’ve beaten one really good team, Georgia, and one average to good team in Vanderbilt. They’ll see another one this weekend in Missouri. May not sound great, but Missouri is capable. And then the schedule next week will be Tennessee. They’ll see LSU, they’ll have to deal with Oklahoma and Auburn. Their schedule is incredibly difficult. They have very, very little room for error, but I do believe they can win the national championship.”

Since falling 31-17 to Florida State in its season-opener, Alabama has won four consecutive games. Most recently, the Crimson Tide defeated Georgia and Vanderbilt.

It’s been a stunning turnaround for the Crimson Tide, who are led on offense by quarterback Ty Simpson. The redshirt junior boasts 1,478 passing yards and 13 touchdowns this season, compared to just one interception.

Simpson has only improved as the season has progressed. In Alabama’s 30-14 win over Vanderbilt this past weekend, he completed 23-of-his-31 pass attempts for 340 yards and two touchdowns, while only throwing one pick.

Simpson isn’t solely responsible for Alabama’s improved play. The team’s defense has made significant strides recently, and is only allowing 285.8 yards per game, ranking No. 20 in the country. For reference, Alabama gave up 382 yards in its Week 1 loss to Florida State.

Alabama is undoubtedly beginning to find its footing, but there will be plenty of more opportunities for the team to misstep this season. Alabama still has four currently-ranked opponents ahead on its schedule. Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer is ensuring his team doesn’t become content with their recent success.

“I don’t think there’s a reason to be complacent yet because it’s still early in the season,” DeBoer said Monday. “That’s the way we talk in the program. Just with, it ain’t good enough. Like, there’s so much area and you’re working on things. You wanna acknowledge improvement. You wanna acknowledge the ways that we fight. But, from an execution standpoint, there was a lot of stuff that we can do better.”