There’s no doubt Alabama is in store for another really good season, but a few injuries to key players on the defense will surely make things more difficult for Nick Saban to guide his team to another College Football Playoff berth.
This week, the Tide lost their superstar middle linebacker Dylan Moses to a torn ACL, which will force him to miss the 2019 season. That’s a huge blow for Alabama, as Moses, considered one of the best linebackers in the nation, was the real heart and soul of the defense. Last year, he was a finalist for the Dick Butkus Award, given to college football’s best linebacker.
Tack on fifth-year senior Joshua McMillon’s knee injury, which he suffered in the team’s first preseason scrimmage Aug. 10, and Alabama is looking depleted at linebacker this year. Additionally, the Tide lost Lyndell “Mack” Wilson, another superstar linebacker, to the NFL after last season.
With the injuries to key linebackers in mind, the SEC Network’s Peter Burns went ahead and updated his SEC power rankings, with Georgia overtaking Alabama for the top spot.
Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, their schedule is not too difficult to navigate and they are still expected to return to Atlanta for the SEC Championship. Alabama does, however, still have to square off against South Carolina, Texas A&M and Auburn on the road, in addition to home games vs Tennessee and LSU. For an SEC schedule, that’s not entirely too difficult. On a national level, though, it’s certainly no cake-walk.
Then there’s Georgia, which has to play road games vs Tennessee and Auburn, home games vs Notre Dame, South Carolina, Missouri and Texas A&M and a neutral site matchup vs Florida. For both teams, it’s not going to be easy to make it back to Atlanta, but Georgia’s slate of games is considerably more difficult.
We wish both Moses and McMilon a healthy and speedy recovery and future success. Believe it or not, I was excited to watch Moses play this season.
