{"id":785206,"date":"2023-08-21T16:35:33","date_gmt":"2023-08-21T20:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/?p=785206"},"modified":"2023-08-21T16:35:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T20:35:46","slug":"paul-finebaum-questions-alabama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html","title":{"rendered":"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama&#8217;s 2023 success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time in a long time, the Alabama Crimson Tide has entered an unfamiliar position. They aren&#8217;t favorites to win the national championship.<\/p>\n<p>Despite finishing with an 11-2 record and No. 5 ranking in the country last season, there are many doubters who say the dynasty is dead.<\/p>\n<p>The Georgia Bulldogs are overwhelming favorites to three-peat but ESPN&#8217;s Paul Finebaum says don&#8217;t count out Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">8-21-23 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/finebaum?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@finebaum<\/a> shares his thoughts on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AuburnFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AuburnFootball<\/a> Payton Thorne as QB1 also who he thinks is leading the way in the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlabamaFTBL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AlabamaFTBL<\/a> QB room and more around the SEC! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/q5XHfU7brn\">https:\/\/t.co\/q5XHfU7brn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning (@macandcube) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/macandcube\/status\/1693606284824588333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 21, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Finebaum says even if the Crimson Tide&#8217;s offense struggles in the beginning, they may be able to withstand if if their defense is good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey can probably get away with it offensively as long as 1 thing is true and that\u2019s if the defense is elite,\u201d Finebaum said. \u201cIf they can shore up what were some deficiencies last year, then I think they can survive.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Alabama defense was not elite last year in close losses to LSU and Tennessee. In years past, the Alabama defense would have found a way to make stops for the Tide.<\/p>\n<p>With the changing of the guard and Kevin Steele coming back as defensive coordinator, that may be the difference if the Tide wants to compete for another championship.<\/p>\n<p>The key, Finebaum says, is ultimately how good the defense is.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ultimate concern though is if the defense is not like some of those defenses that your partner was often bailed out by,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I don\u2019t know how they will handle certain teams Texas, Ole Miss, LSU, teams that can score a lot of points. I think that\u2019s the 1 unknown.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>{<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/macandcube\/status\/1693606284824588333\">McElroy and Cubelic<\/a>}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first time in a long time, the Alabama Crimson Tide has entered an unfamiliar position. They aren&#8217;t favorites to win the national championship. Despite finishing with an 11-2 record and No. 5 ranking in the country last season, there are many doubters who say the dynasty is dead. The Georgia Bulldogs are overwhelming <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2098,"featured_media":615706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41629,44890],"tags":[1678,10227],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.13 (Yoast SEO v20.13) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama&#039;s 2023 success<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ESPN&#039;s Paul Finebaum says the key to Alabama winning a national championship in 2023 will be their defense.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama&#039;s 2023 success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ESPN&#039;s Paul Finebaum says the key to Alabama winning a national championship in 2023 will be their defense.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Comeback: Today\u2019s Top Sports Stories &amp; Reactions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thecomebacksports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-21T20:35:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-21T20:35:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/16336562-e1668368214548.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1254\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stacey Mickles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thecomeback\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@thecomeback\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stacey Mickles\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stacey Mickles\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/person\/db5c62286f8abf00b1c63ecdd36f9501\"},\"headline\":\"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama&#8217;s 2023 success\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-21T20:35:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-21T20:35:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html\"},\"wordCount\":275,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Alabama Crimson Tide\",\"Paul Finebaum\"],\"articleSection\":[\"College Football\",\"Featured\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html\",\"name\":\"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama's 2023 success\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-21T20:35:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-21T20:35:46+00:00\",\"description\":\"ESPN's Paul Finebaum says the key to Alabama winning a national championship in 2023 will be their defense.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama&#8217;s 2023 success\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Comeback: Today\u2019s Top Sports Stories &amp; Reactions\",\"description\":\"The Comeback provides today\u2019s top sports stories and reactions for the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football, college basketball, and more.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Comeback: Today\u2019s Top Sports Stories &amp; Reactions\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cropped-come-back-logo-e1481559564785.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cropped-come-back-logo-e1481559564785.png\",\"width\":215,\"height\":129,\"caption\":\"The Comeback: Today\u2019s Top Sports Stories &amp; Reactions\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thecomebacksports\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thecomeback\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/person\/db5c62286f8abf00b1c63ecdd36f9501\",\"name\":\"Stacey Mickles\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9a03b88bf96cd0bce2ea03e7a256fdc?s=96&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9a03b88bf96cd0bce2ea03e7a256fdc?s=96&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Stacey Mickles\"},\"description\":\"Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/author\/staceymickles\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama's 2023 success","description":"ESPN's Paul Finebaum says the key to Alabama winning a national championship in 2023 will be their defense.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama's 2023 success","og_description":"ESPN's Paul Finebaum says the key to Alabama winning a national championship in 2023 will be their defense.","og_url":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html","og_site_name":"The Comeback: Today\u2019s Top Sports Stories &amp; Reactions","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thecomebacksports\/","article_published_time":"2023-08-21T20:35:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-21T20:35:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2400,"height":1254,"url":"http:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/16336562-e1668368214548.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Stacey Mickles","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@thecomeback","twitter_site":"@thecomeback","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Stacey Mickles","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html"},"author":{"name":"Stacey Mickles","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/person\/db5c62286f8abf00b1c63ecdd36f9501"},"headline":"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama&#8217;s 2023 success","datePublished":"2023-08-21T20:35:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-21T20:35:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html"},"wordCount":275,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Alabama Crimson Tide","Paul Finebaum"],"articleSection":["College Football","Featured"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html","url":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html","name":"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama's 2023 success","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-08-21T20:35:33+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-21T20:35:46+00:00","description":"ESPN's Paul Finebaum says the key to Alabama winning a national championship in 2023 will be their defense.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/college-football\/paul-finebaum-questions-alabama.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Paul Finebaum names key to Alabama&#8217;s 2023 success"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/","name":"The Comeback: Today\u2019s Top Sports Stories &amp; Reactions","description":"The Comeback provides today\u2019s top sports stories and reactions for the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football, college basketball, and more.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#organization","name":"The Comeback: Today\u2019s Top Sports Stories &amp; Reactions","url":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cropped-come-back-logo-e1481559564785.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/cropped-come-back-logo-e1481559564785.png","width":215,"height":129,"caption":"The Comeback: Today\u2019s Top Sports Stories &amp; Reactions"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thecomebacksports\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/thecomeback"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/person\/db5c62286f8abf00b1c63ecdd36f9501","name":"Stacey Mickles","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9a03b88bf96cd0bce2ea03e7a256fdc?s=96&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9a03b88bf96cd0bce2ea03e7a256fdc?s=96&r=pg","caption":"Stacey Mickles"},"description":"Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.","url":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/author\/staceymickles"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785206"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785206"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":785248,"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785206\/revisions\/785248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecomeback.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}