The Alabama Crimson Tide have been a maddeningly inconsistent team so far in the 2024 college football season. When they are at their best, they have been tremendous. Just go watch the first half against Georgia. When they haven’t been on their game, then they are a vulnerable team that can lose to the Vanderbilts of the world.

There is a middle ground for how good this Crimson Tide can be, but we haven’t seen that version as much. Either we have seen very good, or we have seen troublingly poor.

In the first adaption of the college football playoff rankings, we saw Alabama come in at No. 11. That would earn a spot in the first ever 12-team playoffs, and ultimately a chance to win a national championship. If the Crimson Tide can have a chance to run the table, there are several things we need to see from the team down the stretch.

Here are the keys for this Alabama team to hit their potential, and contend for a championship, a standard we have seen for this program for a long time now.

Get Milroe back on track

The Alabama offense goes how Jalen Milroe goes. We have seen some spectacular play from the dual threat quarterback, particularly earlier in the season. When he’s on, Milroe is one of the biggest offensive weapons in college football. The problem is we haven’t seen anything close to consistency recently.

During a three-game stretch of Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Tennessee, Milroe threw five interceptions and didn’t have more than 36 yards rushing in every single game during that span. He has a solid outing against Missouri, but one that still wasn’t spectacular. The one good sign was Milroe was turnover free, which is what had plagued him.

Quite simply, this team has no chance of making a late season run if Milroe isn’t playing his best football. They will need his arm, and his legs to finish out the season strong. Luckily for the team, it isn’t a daunting schedule after the LSU game this weekend. Mercer, Oklahoma, and Auburn could be a good tune up opportunity heading into the playoffs potentially.

Find your identity

One of the biggest issues we have seen with this Alabama offense is an overall lack of identity. Under Kalen DeBoer we should have expected Alabama to have taken a huge step forward as a passing team, but it does seem disjointed at times. Yes, they can throw the ball better, but the core principle remains the same.

When you have Jam Miller and Justice Haynes at running back, along with Milroe’s ability as a runner, this team has to be able to run the football at an efficient clip. They have done that at times, seeing both Miller and Haynes each averaging over six yards per carry. With the size of this offensive line unit, this should be the bread and butter of the attack but haven’t fully adopted that identity.

If they do lean more on the running game, then it would also help Milroe a ton.

Finish more up front defensively

Alabama is younger in the secondary outside of Malachi Moore. On the second level, they are long and fast, but very inconsistent. The huge key for this defense to be a better unit is going to be their defensive front. If they are more consistent up front, it can fix a lot of their problems.

There is a ton of NFL talent up front, at least in theory for the Crimson Tide. LT Overton has star potential, and that unit is deep on talent. Players like Tim Keenan, Qua Russaw, and Tim Smith all can make plays for the team. If they get more consistent impact, and finish plays, it has a chance to make the second and third levels a lot more consistent.