Joel Klatt questions Alabama's direction, ranking them outside the SEC's top three. He believes their trajectory is downward, citing transfer portal concerns and competition.
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer made progress in Year 2 when the program reached the College Football Playoff.
The Crimson Tide defeated Oklahoma on the road in the first round of the CFP, silencing rumors DeBoer would jump for the then-open Michigan head coaching gig.
But a 38-3 loss to Indiana in the CFP quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl crushed any momentum Alabama gained from making the SEC championship and winning a CFP game.
The game was meaningful in a metaphorical sense for what college football is now. Indiana, fueled by donor money in the NIL era, is pushing old-blood programs like Alabama out the way.
It's fair to say that many in Tuscaloosa aren't sold on how DeBoer was able to attack the transfer portal in the offseason. Top targets went to rival SEC programs like Texas.
During his show on Monday, Joe Klatt said he doesn't view the Crimson Tide as a top-three program in the conference.
“We all just assume that this program is going to be just fine and they’ll be great," Klatt said, via a transcription from On3. "But, the reality is that they have quickly descended into a place that, when I think about their conference,
"I don’t think about them initially, and I don’t even think about them in the top three. When I think about the SEC, I immediately think of Georgia and Texas and, oh, by the way, Alabama."
Texas has the money to pay top recruits. Georgia has been crafty under head coach Kirby Smart to pay players that have a drive to win football games, though the Bulldogs have lost in the CFP quarterfinal the last two seasons.
Klatt thinks Alabama is on its way down unless something changes.
“They are on a trajectory that is down, and I don’t think that that is going to stop," Klatt said. "They have to level out at some point in order to start going back up. But, I don’t sense that moment of them leveling out.
"I think that win against Georgia on the road last year was fantastic. There’s no doubt. But, man, I don’t see this team turning it around. … I don’t love what’s going on going on down there.”
It's unclear if even DeBoer would disagree.