Alabama Football: Way-too-early 2021 game-by-game predictions

After a challenging two-game stretch versus Ole Miss and Texas A&M, Alabama will once again hit the road and take on Mississippi State. The Bulldogs had an up-and-down season a year ago, but return a young quarterback in Will Rogers, who looked the part in some games last year.

The defense returns a lot of their starters and that was one of the most formidable units in the SEC. They will have their hands full with an Alabama offense that should be rounding into form at this point in the season.

I think that Mike Leach could be building something solid in Starkville, but it is going to take a couple of more years of recruiting and getting high impact transfers for the Bulldogs to be really competitive. Mississippi State will be more competitive than last season against Alabama, but won’t seriously threaten the Tide.

Final Score: Alabama 41, Mississippi State 21 (7-0, 4-0)

This game used to be one of the best rivalries in the SEC, but the Volunteers have not beaten Alabama since 2006 and most of those defeats have been very lopsided.

Tennessee is a program that is in a bit of an upheaval at the moment and they will be in a tough spot for the next couple of years. New head coach Josh Heupel will be bringing his wide open offensive attack to Knoxville and hoping that he can have enough time to get the program back to the top.

I expect Tennessee to be the worst team in the SEC next season. I think they are losing too many impact starters to the transfer portal and not bringing in enough talented recruits to offset that. I think Heupel could be the man for the job, but this year will be tough.

Alabama wins big again in this rivalry.

Final Score: Alabama 52, Tennessee 14 (8-0, 5-0)