5. Alabama Crimson Tide
A predictably brutal SEC West keeps the Crimson Tide to No. 5 on this list, but Alabama has proven that it can afford an early-season setback en route to a national title.
Alabama will travel to Texas A&M in Week 7 and travel to Auburn at the end of the year. It will host LSU this year and travel to Mississippi State the week after, but other than that, it’s hard to find any other contests that would truly give Tide fans pause. The season opener against Duke? A late-season visit by the Catamounts of Western Carolina? Yawn.
Alabama’s saving grace for a chance at going undefeated lies within the lack of crossover games with its SEC East opponents. It’s a difficult task to play eight regular-season conference games in a 14-team league and accurately stack each team up to each other, but the Crimson Tide will likely face Georgia or Florida (winners of the SEC East the last four seasons) in the 2019 SEC Championship Game. Before December, the Tide will only face South Carolina and Tennessee.
The return of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, offensive stars Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III and Devonta Smith, plus a star-studded defense makes Alabama a top national title contender, just like any season in the past decade. Navigating the midseason SEC West road trips and a potential trip to the national title game appear to the biggest hindrances to an undefeated 2019 Alabama squad.