This is an opinion column.

For years, the question’s been about the identity of a given Alabama football team.

It was a matter of slotting where they fit in the lineage from the defensive maulers early in Nick Saban’s run to the offensive explosion in the next phase.

The last few, however, fell into the crack in the sofa.

Talented but flawed.

There was something missing after claiming the 2020 national title with an embarrassment of offensive riches. Alabama lost four games in 2021 and 2022 — each time taking fourth-quarter leads only to fold in the end. Frankly, it felt like a lack of either guts or heart but the slip was unmistakable.

Robotic yet glitchy.

So this 2023 Alabama football team entered September without the shine of previous seasons. The cracks were showing on the outside but there was a quiet optimism within the football facility about the mindset of this group. The talent wasn’t as developed but this group had the intestines previous team was missing.

That’s what made the dump of a performance against Texas relatively surprising, even with the public context of the previous two seasons. It’s fair to say this Crimson Tide team was written off in the wake of a 34-24 beating that felt more like a changing of the guard.

And while it may have gotten worse before it got better, something clicked in late September. A 24-10 win over now-top-10 Ole Miss was a turning point in a series of gut checks.

This was less about forming an identity or establishing a theme for a season that found itself on life support almost immediately after tearing the wrapper off.

Alabama won with defense over Lane Kiffin’s crew that turned around and scored 55 points a week later against LSU.

It cruised to its most casual conference win a week later against an overmatched Mississippi State. The 40-17 win saw the Tide throw just 13 passes, score a defensive touchdown and kick four field goals.

Then to Texas A&M where the streak of living dangerously began. There it needed Jalen Milroe’s right arm and Jermaine Burton’s two hands because the ground game that had been improving went MIA. Milroe threw it 33 times — 20 more than the previous Saturday — while the interior defensive line got nasty. The 26-20 white-knuckle ride used a few cat lives but Alabama survived.

The Arkansas game again broke the mold where the slow starts turned into a near meltdown. From up 24-6 on the strength of a big-play passing game to winning 24-21, Alabama’s wild streak of unpredictability continued right into another reversal.

Because Tennessee went for the early knockout seven days later and Alabama’s good fortune running thin. Down 13-0, then 20-7 at halftime, Alabama was getting outplayed but forcing a few field goals inside the 10-yard line gave this offense just enough oxygen to outpunch the Vols after halftime. The 34-20 win included another defensive score and a 27-0 outburst in the final 30 minutes. This was a day Alabama converted 5 of 13 third-down attempts but one of the nation’s most penalized teams was flagged just once.

Alabama took one of the nation’s best defenses into the open week that was carrying a heavier load than its offensive counterparts. Where the offense struggled to find consistency where it alternated week’s throwing and running to win, the defense was back to the pre-2021 form. Milroe was improving as a passer but was still, for all his speed, on a historic pace for getting sacked.

So back in the paint mixer this winning formula went for the annual early November meeting at the cross road with LSU.

Of course, the Tigers came out punching the swagger out of the Alabama defensive step. Heisman contender Jayden Daniels ran circles around the front seven and into the secondary he torched to score the game’s first touchdown on a 46-yard touchdown pass. The Tigers were approaching Alabama’s SEC opponent’s highest offensive output at halftime but that was only half of the story that would change as the temperatures dropped.

That’s because the latest Milroe wardrobe change involved track shoes. He entered Saturday with 77 rushing attempts for 142 yards net yards before Alabama unleashed its linebacker-sized quarterback. Breaking the school’s QB rushing touchdown record with four, Milroe had the game that his skillset said was possible but not realized until now. He ran 20 times for 155 yards while competing 15 of 23 passes for 219 yards. He led an offense that converted 11 of 14 third downs for its highest percentage in 11 years — a stat that kept its defense in the game (for a change) long enough to respond with a more complete second half.

The 42-28 win defied the projections that questioned if Alabama could survive a shootout with the nation’s best offense.

Dizzy yet?

It’s absurd.

The behemoth that is Alabama football is winning games like a plucky newcomer — trailing in five of the seven games since getting embarrassed by Texas. They’ve won a few with defense, a few with offense, fast starts, slow starts, despite getting sacked 4.4 times a game and with the same quarterback running for 155 yards and four touchdowns.

Who needs an identity when you’re winning?

Alabama’s average margin of victory over Power 5 competition is 31-21. That’s hardly the demolition tour of the 49-19 average score in the 2020 national title run but this team’s handled its business every Saturday since the Week 2 outlier.

It’s been entertaining (likely more so to document than to fan) in what’s been a refreshing deviation from the past.

Bottom line: Since Texas, Alabama’s found a way in the 50-50 games that had about a 50-50 hit rate a year ago.

And the real question: Is this a national title contender?

Honestly, yes and that that answer changed Saturday night. You saw something closer to a complete performance that almost assured the Crimson Tide a seat at the SEC Championship to likely face a Georgia team that’s not quite as imposing as previous versions.

Still far from a front-runner for a January trip to Houston but the fact we’re having this talk in early November defies everything we saw in early September.

How’s underdog for an identity?

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.