Though the 2024 offseason has just begun, it is never too early to start thinking about the importance of every game of the upcoming season. One game, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich, carries some significant weight on a national level.
Dinich recently named 12 games from the 2024 season that can have the biggest impact (subscription required) on the new 12-team playoff format. The second-most important game is Alabama’s Week 4 contest when the Tide hosts Georgia.
“In addition to the importance in the conference race — and what could be another quality road win against a ranked opponent for Georgia (see No. 1) — it will also reveal where Bama coach Kalen DeBoer is with the program in his first season after taking over for retired legend Nick Saban,” writes Dinich. “September will be a very difficult month for Georgia. The Dawgs play two true road games — at Kentucky and Bama — and play a season-opening neutral-site game against Clemson. This matchup could foreshadow the SEC championship game, where the two teams have met three times since 2018. If so, the loser of this game will have a chance to impress the selection committee by avenging its regular-season loss. That would also allow for the loser of the SEC title game to claim a regular-season win against the eventual conference champion, helping both teams to earn playoff bids, which also happened in 2021.”
As Dinich mentions, new Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer has his work cut out for him. Not only does he have the task of being the coach to follow Nick Saban, but he takes over the Crimson Tide program during a time of drastic change across all of college football. It doesn’t help that Alabama has a rather tough schedule in his first season at the helm.
A win over Georgia in the regular season would be a massive boost for DeBoer. Not only…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/2024-alabama-game-expected-massive-220518136.html
Author : Roll Tide Wire
Publish date : 2024-01-22 22:05:18
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