Overall Record:
The entire staff correctly predicted Alabama would win the SEC West and earn a bid to the College Football Playoff, but none of us thought the team would win the semifinal matchup, much less a national championship.
12-2 (3) Three of us [Tyler, Terrin and Marquis] correctly predicted the Crimson Tide would only drop one regular season game.
11-3 (2) Two doubters [Kayla and Elliott] predicted Alabama would finish with three losses for the first time since 2010.
Who Alabama loses to:
Georgia: 3- I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate myself and Elliott for being the only ones to correctly predict this game when everyone else thought this was finally going to be Georgia’s year.
Texas A&M: 2- I’d like to forget that Elliott and I were the only ones to pick Texas A&M to upset Alabama despite a 59-0 beatdown the previous season.
Tennessee: 1- Elliott’s prediction almost came true. What do they say, close but no cigar – unless you’re in the student section of Bryant-Denny Stadium, I suppose.
Auburn: 1- Seriously Kayla? I’m still not sure what she was thinking with this one.
Ole Miss: 0- Like the football team, I have no excuses. Pac-12 kickoff, Pac-12 craziness, I suppose.
Random predictions:
This section was especially rough for the staff, but a few of them did alright.
Kayla Montgomery (former sports editor) – At least three games into the season, coach Nick Saban and his team still won’t have a clear starter. Alec Morris will ultimately secure the job.
Nick Saban did change his starter up in the third game of the season when he sent Cooper Bateman out with the starting offense, and you could even argue that lit a fire under Jake Coker that made him a better quarterback. Unfortunately for Kayla, Coker reclaimed the starting position, not Morris, but a pretty good prediction nonetheless.
Tyler Waldrep (sports editor) – Running back Kenyan Drake throws a touchdown pass.
I seriously overestimated how the offensive coordinator was going to use Drake this season. In the national championship game, when Drake took the ball on a reverse and rolled out to the left, I thought my prediction might come true, but unfortunately he did not seem to hear me shouting at him to throw it from Tuscaloosa.
Terrin Waack (staff reporter)– Saban is going to change the starting quarterback halfway through the season. In the end, it’ll be better for the team.
This prediction is similar to Kayla’s, but Saban only changed the quarterback up once earlier in the season, and it was better for the team in the end.
Elliott Propes (staff reporter) – Chris Black has two special teams touchdowns.
This prediction is in direct competition with mine for worst prediction of the year. Black found himself on the wrong end of a special teams mistake early in the season, and he didn’t really see the field much due to a nagging injury that ended his season prematurely.
Marquis Munson (former reporter) – Calvin Ridley will have a Julio Jones type of freshman year.
This is the only prediction that was 100-percent accurate. Jones finished his freshman year with 58 receptions for 924 yards and four touchdowns. Ridley finished the season with 89 receptions, 1,045 yards and seven touchdowns.
