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Joel Klatt Compares 2024 Alabama To Lincoln Riley-era Oklahoma Teams

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Joel Klatt Compares 2024 Alabama To Lincoln Riley-era Oklahoma Teams


The post-Nick Saban era at Alabama has already created a remarkable high and an astonishing low. And college football commentator Joel Klatt thinks those types of results are likely to be much more common moving forward.

Appearing on The Next Round Live show, Klatt talked about how Alabama’s defensive struggles and offensive prowess remind him of the Oklahoma Sooners teams under Lincoln Riley. Instead of Saban’s suffocating defenses, the new Crimson Tide model will have to be outscoring their opposition.

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“This Bama team is just another version of the Lincoln Riley OU teams,” Klatt said. “Incredible explosive offense, and they’re gonna be in shootouts the rest of the way. I told you that after the South Florida game and that’s what they are.

“We’ve had four straight games of this. To think, all of a sudden, it’s going to get better — Alabama, right now, is just a Big 12 team from 2017. Bama is gonna have to score 45 PPG in conference to win the rest of their games.”

Alabama Crimson Tide Exemplify The New SEC

Klatt has a point; Alabama’s defense has taken a step, if not several steps, backward in 2024. Per ESPN’s SP+ metric ranking system, the Crimson Tide are 13th in defensive efficiency, and No. 1 in offensive efficiency. Some of that defensive ranking, though, incorporates preseason projections. 

Riley’s Oklahoma teams rarely came close to reaching the top 15 in defensive efficiency. The 2017 Sooners team that finished 12-2 was first in SP+ offense, but 43rd in defense. Alabama’s rankings may adjust further downward as the season progresses and preseason expectations are given less and less weight. But they’re hardly an exception in the modern SEC.

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The conference’s reputation was built on the toughest defenses in the country, and for good reason. This year, however, the shift toward offense is obvious.

Per SP+ again, this is where the conference’s top teams rank in offensive efficiency:

  • 1) Alabama
  • 2) Texas
  • 3) LSU
  • 6) Georgia
  • 7) Ole Miss
  • 10) Florida
  • 13) Tennessee
  • 15) Missouri

The top three offenses are all in the SEC, six in the top 10, and eight in the top 15. It’s an offense-first league these days. 

There’s also a reason Nick Saban is the best college coach in the sport’s history. It’s virtually impossible to fill his shoes or replicate his success. What he was able to do, especially in the latter half of his career, was marrying modern offensive concepts with exceptional defensive coaching, talent evaluation and play calling. The question for Alabama now becomes, will it be the new Riley-era Oklahoma, or can the Tide fix their defensive issues on the fly in the middle of the season. 

With elite offenses like Tennessee, Missouri and LSU, as well as tough matchups against Oklahoma and Auburn on the schedule, they, and we, are going to get the answer quickly.





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Southern 88-85 Alabama A&M (Mar 5, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN

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Southern 88-85 Alabama A&M (Mar 5, 2026) Game Recap – ESPN


HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — — Terrance Dixon Jr.’s 19 points helped Southern defeat Alabama A&M 88-85 on Thursday.

Dixon shot 7 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line for the Jaguars (15-16, 11-7 Southwestern Athletic Conference). Michael Jacobs scored 15 points while going 4 of 11 and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line, and added five rebounds. AJ Barnes shot 3 for 7 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line to finish with 14 points, while adding six rebounds.

Koron Davis finished with 23 points for the Bulldogs (17-14, 10-8). James Graham added 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals for Alabama A&M. Kintavious Dozier also had 12 points.

The Jaguars led by 10 points with 59 seconds to go, before the Bulldogs executed a three-point play from Bilal Abdur-Rahim then got a 3-pointer from Dozier in the span of nine seconds, cutting the deficit to four. A free throw battle closed out the result for the Jaguars.

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——

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.



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Top-30 overall recruit Jaxon Richardson commits to Alabama

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Top-30 overall recruit Jaxon Richardson commits to Alabama


Jaxon Richardson, the No. 27 overall recruit in the 2026 class per the Rivals Industry Ranking, has committed to Alabama.

The 6-foot-6 four-star small forward out of Southeastern Prep (FL) ultimately chose the Crimson Tide over USC, Creighton, and Ole Miss. He also received offers from Miami, Cincinnati, Michigan, Florida, Villanova, and others.

Richardson, a McDonald’s All-American, becomes the Crimson Tide’s third commitment of the 2026 cycle. He joins four-star shooting guard Qayden Samuels (No. 28 NATL) and four-star small forward Tarris Bouie (No. 54 NATL).

He’s the son of NBA veteran and two-time NBA Dunk Contest champion Jason Richardson. His older brother, Jase, played for Michigan State last season before being selected 25th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic.

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More on Richardson

Rivals’ National Recruiting Analyst Jamie Shaw says Richardson is one of the most explosive players in the 2026 class:

Jaxon Richardson is able to combine fluid athleticism with explosive burst in a way no other player in this class can. He uses his athleticism to his advantage on the floor. He fills the outside channels with a purpose in transition, he is aggressive in the passing lanes, and he plays as a vertical floor spacer in the dunker spots and lob plays. Last summer, playing with the Florida Rebels on Nike’s EYBL Circuit, the 6-foot-6 wing averaged 12.8 points on 54.0 percent shooting and 10.5 attempts per game. Last high school season, he averaged 12.9 points on 61.0 percent shooting on 8.9 attempts per game. He is a highly efficient player, as 84.4 percent of his makes last high school season were at the rim.



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Alabama Baseball Ties Stolen Base Record In Win Over Hornets

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Alabama Baseball Ties Stolen Base Record In Win Over Hornets


Alabama baseball cruised to a win over Alabama State on Wednesday night, beating the Hornets 13-4 to complete the season sweep. The Crimson Tide tied a program record with nine stolen bases in one of the stranger contests that will be played this season.

The tone was set for a tumultuous night on the basepaths in the opening minutes of the game. Leadoff batter Bryce Fowler, who exited Tuesday’s game after getting beaned in the head, was walked, and promptly took second base. He advanced to third on a wild pitch in Justin Lebron’s at-bat, paving the way for Lebron to steal second when he was ultimately walked as well.

The successful baserunning instantly paid off, as Brady Neal drove both in with a double to left-center field before John Lemm walked two at-bats later. Both runners stole their respective bases on the same pitch in Jason Torres’ plate appearance, meaning that four of the first five batters of the game stole a base.

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Alabama has been exceptional on the basepaths, sitting at 30-for-30 on the season. Lebron, who swiped two bags on Wednesday, leads the team with 12. The junior had an up-and-down night, hitting his eighth home run of the season, but also committing an error at shortstop for the fourth consecutive game.

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“Get those things out of there now, baby. The dude is unbelievable,” an unconcerned Rob Vaughn said on Tuesday of Lebron’s errors. “We’re going to look up at the end of the year, and that guy is going to have five or six errors, which one he’s got right now, and we’ll be like, ‘Man, that guy is the best of all time to do it.’”

Wednesday’s game was a very prototypical midweek contest with no shortage of quirks and oddities throughout its nearly four-hour runtime. Fifteen Alabama batters were walked, falling just one shy of the program record, and the hit by pitch record was tied as seven batters were plunked.

The game was never competitive from an on-field standpoint. After barely escaping with a 2-1 win in the first matchup with the Hornets two weeks ago, this was a far more accurate representation of what these games typically look like, as Alabama now leads the all-time series 15-0.

Freshman Joe Chiarodo made his first career start, allowing two hits and one walk over two scoreless innings. He was named the winning pitcher. Luke Smyers, Connor Lehman, Anthony Pesci and Tate Robertson were the other pitchers to take the mound. Lehman allowed a three-run blast in the sixth inning, and those were the only runs until the incredibly-named Skywalker Mann drove in a run off Robertson in the ninth.

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Perhaps the most shocking figure from the game was that Alabama had 19 runners left on base. The Crimson Tide left the bases loaded in four different innings. As stated, this was just a bizarre baseball game across the board. With the midweeks out of the way, the Crimson Tide gets to prepare for its final weekend tune-up before SEC play as North Florida heads into Tuscaloosa on Friday.



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