Alabama Football: Post-Spring game-by-game predictions for 2019

Alabama will open their season in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game for the sixth time, facing off against its most underwhelming adversary to date. A lot of pundits have already pointed to this game and mocked the Tide for not scheduling a tougher opponent, but it’s important to remember that Alabama had no say with which team they were matched up with here.

Alabama agreed to play in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff against an ACC opponent, and the onus was on the Kickoff brass to find a worthy opponent. The problem is that there just aren’t many teams lining up to take on Alabama in this event. As I mentioned, Alabama is playing in this game for the sixth time, and they are 5-0 in previous games with an average margin of victory of 17 points.

None of the high end ACC teams like Clemson or Florida State (which might not even be as good as Duke in 2019, but carries the name value) want to risk an early season defeat against Alabama in this game. It’s hard to blame them for that, but you also can’t blame Alabama for playing in this game.

The Crimson Tide was given a lot less grief last season for opening up against Louisville, and 2019 Duke will be immeasurably better than the 2018 Cardinals. The Blue Devils are coming off another solid season, finishing 8-5. They made their sixth bowl game in the last seven years, and head coach David Cutcliffe is one of the most respected football coaches in the country.

This game may have carried a bit more intrigue if Daniel Jones had returned to Durham for his senior season, but with him off to the NFL, Cutcliffe will turn the keys over to senior Quentin Harris. He isn’t the same level of passer as Jones, but he has the dual-threat ability that could give Alabama’s defense some problems.

With Harris at quarterback and junior running back Deon Jackson returning after rushing for 847 yards a season ago, Cutcliffe is likely to lean more on his ground game than you would typically expect. This will be a good litmus test for the Crimson Tide to see if the defensive deficiencies from 2018 have been cleaned up.

Pick: Alabama 48, Duke 10

Record: 1-0