His projection happened organically, not part of a plan to poke the bear with a stick. When a caller suggested Tennessee could beat Alabama, Burns looked at the Tide's schedule with an analytical eye. He noted the unsettled quarterback situation and the absence of Amari Cooper as reason for concern.
Looking at the schedule, he said road games at Georgia and Auburn were the best bets for Alabama losses. Match ups with Texas A&M, Arkansas and Tennessee were "coin flips" and LSU is always a battle. All told, he said Alabama could lose four regular-season games and that disappointment will spill over into a bowl-game defeat.
Burns said he didn't realize how hard October and November would be for Alabama until he looked at it game-by game.
"We started really looking at it and I said if things start going sideways, not knowing what the quarterback situation is and I don't know if there's an option that's as athletic and is as creative as Blake Sims was, who has seen that offense for four years," Burns said. "I've seen this go sideways for a lot of teams, maybe this is year. I started looking at the schedule, came up with 8-4 and now I can't open up Twitter.
