Due to their dominance, the Alabama Crimson Tide are often brought up in discussions about the NFL and whether or not a college program could beat the worst NFL team. Now that there is a new football league, Alabama is now drawing matchup questions against an AAF team. In fact Mike Johnson, color analyst for the Birmingham Iron, says that if the two played, Alabama would win big:
“The question I get most often is ‘how would the Birmingham Iron do against Alabama?’ …I think Bama wins by a few touchdowns, to be honest with you. This is a developmental league — they’re focusing on fundamentals, they’re focusing on making sure the product is good for a spring league. That doesn’t always lend itself to being the best possible football team.
"At Alabama, you’ve got 5-star recruits and you’ve got a number of (future) first-round draft picks. A lot of those guys will play a ton of years in the NFL. These guys, with the AAF, they’re scratching and clawing to catch on. Not many of them were first-round picks, aside from Trent Richardson." - Mike Johnson, per AL.com
Birmingham is 3-0 to start the AAF season, and will host the San Antonio Commanders on March 3rd.