Alabama Football: Game-by-Game Predictions for 2022

On Aug. 2, Nick Saban sent a collective chill down the spine of the entire SEC… nay, the entire college football world. That was when he now-famously said that the 2021 campaign was “a rebuilding season” for his Crimson Tide.

Rebuilding? Is he freakin’ kidding us? Honestly, maybe not.

Just to re-hash the 2021 season, the Tide went 12-1 in the regular season, won the SEC championship, made the College Football Playoff again, then made it to the national title game and had a late lead against Georgia in that game. That’s a rebuilding season? But to be fair this wasn’t your father’s typical Tide domination machine, looking plenty vulnerable a number of times last season. After going 13-0 in 2020 with the closest game being a 15-point win, last year saw four of their wins come by a single score or less, to go along with the losses to A&M and Georgia.

You know what that means, right? That means the evil empire will have fire in their eyes and take on a championship-or-bust mentality for 2022. And I don’t mean some piddly conference championship. They use those SEC trophies for doorstops in Tuscaloosa. If we know ole Saint Nick, he won’t settle for anything less than yet another ring and making a perturbed face when his players douse him with a water cooler. Do you know how that sounds to the rest of the college football world? To most of the pigskin fans out there it sounds like a leaky sack of manure hitting the ground we walk on. But that’s life in the Saban era of our sport.

Related: Alabama Football 2022 Season Preview and Prediction

So does that mean Bama is ready to (ahem) roll through the regular season undefeated? Some of the experts at Athlon Sports offer up their picks for every game on the Crimson Tide's schedule.

Alabama Football Game-by-Game Predictions for 2022

Steven Lassan (@AthlonSteven)
It’s always safe to predict every team in college football to lose a game somewhere in the regular season, but good luck finding a place in the preseason where this Alabama team stumbles. In a “rebuilding year” in 2021, the Crimson Tide nearly won the national title. With the two best players in college football returning – quarterback Bryce Young and linebacker Will Anderson Jr. – and a loaded roster all-around, coach Nick Saban’s squad will be a heavy favorite in most of their games. The matchup versus Texas A&M is interesting considering all that transpired between Saban and Jimbo Fisher this offseason, but the Crimson Tide will be a double-digit favorite in the spread. I think Alabama is the best team in the nation and has an easy march to 12-0 and eventually the national championship.

Mark Ross (@AthlonMarkR)
Alabama boasts the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, the top defender in college football who very well could win the stiff-armed trophy this season, and arguably the greatest head coach in college football history. If that's not enough, the roster is littered with 5-star recruits and there's the added motivation of Nick Saban referring to last season as a "rebuilding" year. The Crimson Tide are scary enough without taking into consideration that the defense, which was a top-10 unit in 2021 in yards allowed per game, could be even better with the experience that is returning. Unless Texas A&M rises to the occasion again (but this time the game is in Tuscaloosa) or there's an unforeseen road upset in the cards (LSU? Ole Miss?), Bama will do what it does pretty much every year – roll into Atlanta undefeated as the favorite to win it all.

Eric Sorenson (@Stitch_Head)
I know what most of you out there are probably thinking, “C’mon Saban, you’re 70 years old now. Don’t you think it’s time you retire to a front porch somewhere and let somebody new take over the program so we don’t have to be guaranteed the Red Elephants keep hovering around the dozen-win mark every season?” Well he may look cantankerous and bothered every time he meets with the media, but you know he secretly still has that grade-school glee every time he beats the tar out of another hapless opponent. And I think we’ll see plenty of that again this season. The biggest factor is that this year’s team will have seven starters back on defense, including four legit All-American candidates in the back seven. Oh and having the Heisman Trophy-winning QB Bryce Young back with possibly the best O-line in the country means bad news for defenses everywhere.

Then there is the schedule, which looks very manageable. A trip to Texas normally would be daunting, but this is a Longhorn team coming off a 5-7 season and it will be Ohio State transfer quarterback Quinn Ewers' second-ever start. The rest of the schedule is a "redemption tour" or rather a "return to dominance tour." They’ll punish Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss and Auburn for having the audacity to play close games last year. And of course, they’ll pummel Texas A&M because, well… because of Jimbo Fisher. The Tide has appeared in 225 consecutive AP polls since 2008 and also have been favored in their last 92 straight regular-season games dating back to October 2015. I can’t imagine either of these streaks will end in 2022.