10 Thoughts on Alabama Football's 2023 Schedule: Just A Minute

Is there such a thing as an easy SEC schedule in football? No. What changes are the challenges, and Alabama will have a lot of them next season.

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Sep 22, 2022 2:00 PM EDT

In this story:

Alabama Crimson Tide

After the entire 2023 football schedule for all Southeastern Conference teams was released on Wednesday, one of my first thoughts was why didn't the league didn't take advantage of an offseason day to make the announcement?

It was quickly followed by numerous others including the following 10.

Note that none of these factor in that Alabama will likely have a new quarterback, could have numerous new starters following what's expected to be a very successful NFL draft, and maybe new coordinators. We shall see.

1. "The Times They Are A-Changin"

All indications are that within a couple of years, TV times will be announced months in advance as well. That will be a welcome change from the now-usual two-week window and, in some cases the one-week announcement of TV assignments and kickoff times. It can't get here soon enough.

2. Texas-sized motivation

Maybe it's just me, but the Week 2 game looks even larger considering the way this year's meeting went and Arch Manning opted for the Longhorns after they spent $280,000 on his official visit.

3. Texas visiting Bryant-Denny Stadium means we won't have to deal with Fox again, right?

(I really don't have to say anything about that, do I?)

4. Alabama will play the Mississippi schools back-to-back.

They haven't played in the same month since 1988. The last time they played back-to-back Saturdays was 1944. Alabama won both of those games on Nov. 11 and 18, 34-6 and 19-0, but the opposition wasn't coached by Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach.

5. Kentucky after LSU

The LSU game is usually as physical as any other, and Alabama will have to go on the road to face the Wildcats seven days later. That'll be a challenge.

6. Alabama has three heat games

Tampa in September is hot and humid, plus is the lightning capital of North America. Starkville in late September can be stifling. College Station in early October is almost always hot. The Crimson didn't get any favors there. Maybe a couple of the games will at least be at night.

7. Five SEC teams in five weeks

From Sept. 23-Oct. 21, Alabama will Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Arkansas and Tennessee. How many of those teams will ranked at the time? I'm guessing four. That'll be a brutal stretch.

8. Road warriors

In addition to the back-to-back road games in Starkville and College Station, it'll also have three out of four games on the road when factoring in South Florida.

9. Talk about settling in at home

Alabama will go more than a month, technically a span from Oct. 8 until Nov. 24, in which it will play just once away from Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide then has to go to Auburn and deal with the crazy-loud fans throwing toilet paper.

10. It's still an SEC schedule, which means one thing especially, it's hard.