The biggest threat to Alabama this upcoming season is, wait for it, Alabama, so says college football analyst Josh Pate.

Pate, the CBS Sports analyst, joined the “Beat Everyone” podcast at SEC Media Days this week in Atlanta and is high on the Crimson Tide.

“Got an opportunity, along with about four or five teams, to win the conference,” Pate said of Kalen DeBoer’s team. “Could easily see them winning the national championship.

“It’s also a team – on the low end – that has a lot of 8-4 clustered into the outcomes if you were to simulate it 100 times.”

To be fair, Pate believes the same thing about Texas when it comes to the biggest threat staring the Longhorns in the mirror.

Texas, Georgia, LSU and Alabama are all on his radar for the SEC championship and more.

Like many, Pate believes good decision making from the quarterback, presumably Ty Simpson, and a commitment to running the ball is where it starts.

“I don’t see many weaknesses with them,” he said. “It may not be that they are A+ across the board … (but) I look at Alabama and say, ‘I don’t know what’s going to keep them from it.’”

Pass rush, for example, he said, may not dominate across the board but cumulatively can get it done.

“They have a shot to be the best receiving corps in the league,” Pate said. “One of. They have a chance to have the best defensive back room in the league. One of.”

The reason, Pate believes, is because Year 2 under DeBoer is what he calls a settling in season. Not in terms of comfort, but “we have our guys now.”

Check out the full interview above.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.