Ari Wasserman makes strong claim about Crimson Tide entering Rose Bowl: 'I don't think Alabama is very good'

No. 9 Alabama advanced in the College Football Playoff with a first-round win on Friday night over No. 8 Oklahoma. However, ahead of their quarterfinal matchup in the Rose Bowl against No. 1 Indiana, On3’s Ari Wasserman doesn’t think anyone should be getting ahead of themselves when it comes to the Crimson Tide.

Wasserman called it like he saw it with ‘Bama while previewing the Rose Bowl on ‘Andy & Ari On3’ on Monday. He sees a fine team, not a great one, in the Tide.

“You strip the paint off of these teams, and you just watch all of their games, and there you go,” Wasserman said, in response to the fact that Indiana is favored over Alabama. “I don’t think Alabama is very good. I’m just going to put it out there. I think they’re solid.”

That’s not anything to surprising to say, as Alabama just hasn’t been as good over their last seven games since the end of October. In their power-level games since October 25th, the Tide, after a 5-1 start, are 4-2, with their scoring down in that span to 23 points after averaging 28.8. That has led to much closer margins, with both the losses and two of the wins being by a score or less.

Take Friday, for example as well. There’s plenty to have liked about a 34-24 win in Norman to advance in the CFP. That said, Wasserman thinks everyone has moved too quickly past the fact that Alabama, coming off their 28-7 loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship, was quickly down 17-0 before mounting their comeback from the second quarter on, which he also felt was more so self-inflicted by the Sooners themselves, against OU.

“You know, we were at the game on Friday night in Norman. While impressive to go on the road, and win against a team that’s got a very good defense, I thought Oklahoma handed them that game on a silver platter. I don’t buy into that thought that Alabama went out and took something,” said Wasserman. “Now, they kept the lead, they won by ten, and that’s a good point. But, they were very close to just getting blown out.”

So, looking ahead to the quarterfinal against Indiana, Wasserman expects a lot of people to talk themselves into Alabama. Yet, in his opinion, the Tide’s best game may not even be enough to beat the Hoosiers, with no idea what that even looks like and no guarantee that it’ll even happen for ‘Bama ten days from now in Pasadena.

“I feel like there is an overcorrection in how we are going to view this because of the paint on the helmets, and, when I saw we, I mean everybody. I do that a lot, but you’ve got to get past it,” said Wasserman. “Indiana hasn’t given you a reason to think that they are not going to win this game by ten. I just don’t know what, like – explain to me what it looks like? Alabama just plays their perfect game? How do you find (a run game)? How do you suddenly find that?”

“I just don’t know what (Alabama’s best game) is. That’s, like, from the four-game winning streak?” Wasserman said. “I mean, listen, it’s a seven-point spread, which means it should be a competitive game, you know.”

So, in eventually picking the game, Wasserman followed up on what he said. He sees the Hoosiers as a better team than the Crimson Tide, and so he therefore picked Indiana to win and cover over Alabama on New Year’s Day.

“Just, I don’t see it, and I don’t know if that is just oversimplification…I’m just not going to overcomplicate this. I’m going to pick the better team to cover the spread. The better team is Indiana,” said Wasserman. “I don’t care about history today. I don’t care about what you were for ten years. I care about the tape you put on display.”

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