Route '15: Alabama would love to exact revenge for January's loss to Ohio State in a college playoff semifinal in New Orleans, but the Crimson Tide must first try to become the SEC's first repeat champions since the 1997-98 Tennessee Volunteers. Anything short of a national championship in Tuscaloosa is now considered disappointing, which is the result of coach Nick Saban guiding this program to national titles in 2009, '11 and '12. Despite the unknown at quarterback, Alabama does have the talent everywhere else to make a deep run, but obviously so much has to play out between now and setting up the sport's second four-team spectacle in early December.
Caution ahead: John Parker Wilson, Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron gave Alabama stability at quarterback in Saban's first several seasons, and Blake Sims was a surprising star last season as a fifth-year senior. If this season's starter can't provide the consistency Saban so treasures and the void left by receiver Amari Cooper becomes too sizable, then the Crimson Tide could slip to more of an 8-4 or 9-3 team than an 11-1 or 12-0 championship challenger. Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake comprise a talented tailback tandem, and the defensive front is fantastic, and the thought here is that the secondary won't be near the concern compared to quarterback play.
Winding road: Lane Kiffin is settled in for a second season as offensive coordinator, but he could turn to a newcomer to recapture some of last season's success. Five-star receiver Calvin Ridley had worked his way up to the second team by two practices and is expected to give the Crimson Tide a dynamic talent to replace record-setting Cooper. Ridley is the 2015 signee who could have the quickest road to prominent playing time, and the new assistant who Crimson Tide fans are hoping produces right away is secondary coach Mel Tucker, who inherits seven players with starting experience but must upgrade an area that has faltered the past two years.
On the horizon: Alabama opens its season against Wisconsin in the Cowboys Classic near Dallas, and all eight league opponents played in bowl games last season and won at least seven games. The Crimson Tide are undefeated under Saban in neutral-site season openers, topping Clemson, Virginia Tech (twice) and West Virginia in the Chick-fil-A Classic and Michigan in the Cowboys Classic, but the Badgers will be trying to sweep the state after topping Auburn in January's Outback Bowl. Alabama must play at Auburn for the first time since the "Kick Six" thriller, but the new test on the conference docket is an Oct. 3 trip to Georgia in a rematch of the 2012 SEC title game.
Road to success: Ohio State and TCU have been ranked ahead of the Crimson Tide in the preseason USA Today and Associated Press polls and certainly enter this season with more proven quarterbacks and less-treacherous schedules than Alabama's. The Tide's defensive line is dominant. Linebacker Reggie Ragland will be an upgrade from Trey DePriest as the defensive play-caller, and the secondary will be improved and potentially vastly improved. One key question is how three new starters on the offensive line will perform, but the biggest factor in determining whether Alabama gets to the playoff and makes some noise is whether someone can be as good as Sims.