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SEC Football: Can anyone stop Alabama in 2017?
The Alabama Crimson Tide return in 2017 with a huge chip on their shoulder.
Head coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide fell short of their goal of a national championship in 2016. However, 2017 looks to be even better for them as it may be their best team yet, on offense, anyway.
The Crimson Tide haven't lost a game in the SEC since the 2015 season, when they fell 43-37 to the Ole Miss Rebels back on September 19. They've won 17-straight conference games and four of the last five SEC championships.
The only team to win the SEC title other than the Alabama Crimson Tide was the Auburn Tigers in 2013. That season the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn came down to a final play. A "Kick-Six" saw the Tigers return a missed field goal 100 yards for a game-winning touchdown.
Still, the Crimson Tide's dominance in what's arguably the best conference in college football has been impressive nonetheless. What's even more impressive is how much better on offense they will be in 2017.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts comes off 2016 as the first ever freshman quarterback to start under Coach Saban. Hurts earned SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors after throwing for 2,780 passing yards and 23 passing touchdowns.
Hurts saw his fair share of offensive coordinators in 2016, but Saban hopes hiring new OC Brian Daboll will give the offense some stability. There will be a logjam at running back this season with Bo Scarbrough, Damien Harris and Najee Harris all battling for time.
Hurts wasn't bad in his first season at starter. He completed 62.8 percent of his passes (third in the SEC) and his nine interceptions ranked sixth in the conference as well.
Jalen Hurts will be a passing machine in 2017
One thing Jalen Hurts did well during the 2016 season was run the ball when things got tight. He ran for 954 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns last year as well.
He had a 30-yard touchdown run with about two minutes left in the National Championship game against the Clemson Tigers. It looked like it would be a game-winner worth talking about before the Tigers worked their own magic.
With the experience of the 2016 season under his belt, Hurts should be able to trust his pocket a little more in 2017. The offensive line returns three starters and the Crimson Tide have added some weapons on the outside that should help Hurts' progression.
Calvin Ridley, Robert Foster and Cam Sims will be hard to keep off the field. On top of that, Alabama brought in four wide receivers in the 2017 recruiting class.
The Crimson Tide ranked 11th in the SEC in pass attempts per game (27.8) and eighth in passing yards per game (210.3) in 2016. Things could balance out a lot more this upcoming season now that Hurts has a year of experience under center.
Stopping Alabama will be a lot tougher for all parties involved in 2017. It will be interesting to see if the Crimson Tide stumble out of the gates at all in their season opener. They open the season September 3 against the Florida State Seminoles in Atlanta.
In the SEC, it remains to be seen if the Alabama Crimson Tide can be beaten. Alabama's only close games in conference last season were against Ole Miss (48-43) and the LSU Tigers (10-0). All the other games were won by two possessions or more.
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