Alabama Football: 5 biggest surprises from Tide’s 2019 season

Alabama football is known for its dominance, however, they dropped two games in 2019. Aside from that, what were the biggest surprises for the Tide?

Nick Saban’s 13th season at the helm of the Crimson Tide football program was a disappointing one by Alabama standards. He coached them to an 11-2 record, including a dominating win in the Citrus Bowl versus Michigan, but the ultimate goal of a College Football Playoff berth went unchecked.

There were plenty of contributing factors, too — losing 10 players to the 2019 NFL Draft, star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa getting injured, constant turnover of the staff — but even with all of that going on, Alabama dominated through the first 10 weeks of the regular season.

They posted an 8-0 record and were in the top two of the AP poll every week. Then they ran into the LSU Tigers, this season’s college football team of destiny. Few expected the Tigers to slay the giant that is Alabama football, but eventual Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and Co. took care of business.

Once they lost to LSU, though, Alabama’s entire season was in question. Was their daunting passing attack detrimental to the overall team’s success? Could the defense hold up against opposing offensive powers? What about Tagovailoa? Would his injury history become a factor?

As obvious as the answers were, there were plenty of surprises from the fallout of each question.