Alabama football is halfway through its regular season. The Crimson Tide have made it through much of the panic that surrounded a Week 2 loss to Texas and a rough performance on the road at South Florida and have moved to 3-0 in SEC play, 5-1 overall.

Heading into the back half of the year, UA will face Arkansas at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday, the first of three consecutive home games for the Tide. As Nick Saban’s squad prepares for that game, here’s a look back at what the 2023 Alabama team has looked like so far, and what it could ultimately become.

What’s gone right?

The defense has been the anchor of the Crimson Tide. Even when the team is at its messiest and most ineffective on the other side of the ball, it has usually been able to get the stops it needs to win games.

Up front, Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell get after the quarterback at an extremely high level. The linebacking core is solid, with Deontae Lawson as its leader and top performer.

Occasionally the Tide have had a slip-up in the secondary, but Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold have been an excellent duo at corner. At safety, Caleb Downs has come on over the past two games, grabbing an inception in each one.

On offense, Jalen Milroe has settled in at quarterback since the start of SEC play. He had a career day against Texas A&M, and has seemed far more comfortable, often providing Alabama’s best rushing attack.

His receivers have also been solid. Isaiah Bond and Jermaine Burton especially have shown the ability to provide a deep threat.

What’s gone wrong?

The offensive line has had major struggles so far. If it’s not struggling to block or even get the snap back to Milroe correctly, its having problems with false start penalties.

The offense as a whole has also been dreadfully inconsistent. Alabama has had far too many touchdowns called back for penalties this season, and it ofen seems like a positive play will quickly be followed by a negative one.

An overall sloppiness has been a problem for the whole team. Whether it’s missed tackles, ill-timed penalties, the occasional dropped pass or a mistimed snap, that could be a major thorn for the Tide going forward.

It’s something Saban has acknowledged needs to be fixed as SEC play continues.

“I think the whole team needs to grow every week,” he said ahead of the Texas A&M game. “I think there’s so many things that we can improve on. There’s so many things that if we can learn and pay attention to detail and have a sense of urgency and sustain that, whether it’s practice, games, whatever, we’re gonna eliminate some of our negatives that have proven pretty costly.”

What’s the best case scenario?

As with nearly every year of Nick Saban’s tenure, the loftiest goals are still achievable for the Crimson Tide. Alabama currently sits atop the SEC West, so winning the division in its final season can certainly be done.

If the Crimson Tide do that and make it past likely Georgia, that’s an SEC title. If it finds a way to win two games after that, there’s a national title.

It starts with an Arkansas team that has struggled throughout the 2023 season, especially on offense. Then Alabama has two payback games in a row, facing Tennessee and LSU at Bryant-Denny Stadium to avenge last year’s two losses.

UA will then head on the road to face Kentucky, then return home for Chattanooga before playing Auburn in Auburn. There’s no game in that bunch that isn’t winnable.

What’s the worst case scenario?

If Alabama’s various problems finally catch up to it, the end to 2023 could be ugly. Not in the way that most teams would consider ugly, but certainly by Crimson Tide standards under Saban.

While every game is winnable, there’s also a fair amount of the where its conceivable the Tide could lose. Both LSU and Tennessee got wins over Alabama last year, and the SEC is unpredictable enough this season that it wouldn’t shock many people if that happened again.

Despite a blowout loss to Georgia on Saturday, Kentucky has also looked strong this season. Mark Stoops has built a team in Lexington that could very well take advantage of Alabama’s weaknesses.

If every single thing goes wrong, Alabama could be staring at a three-loss season and a lesser bowl then it has become accustomed to playing in.

More: How Jalen Milroe learned from early-season errors, led Alabama to Texas A&M win