The Alabama Crimson Tide earned another victory on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa over the LSU Tigers, their 13th win in the last 15 editions of the game and their eighth consecutive victory this season since a week one defeat to Florida State.

With just three games remaining, the Tide is getting close to locking up their spot in the SEC Championship likely against Texas A&M, a berth which would all but certainly come along with a spot in the College Football Playoff.

At their best, this team has looked capable of beating anyone in the nation, but Saturday night was another struggle against a downtrodden LSU game on the offensive side of the ball.

In what has been a theme for years now, Alabama struggled to run the ball with any sort of consistency. At least one major pundit — ESPN and SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum — thinks it’s going to cost them a chance at a national championship this season.

“The bottom line is this: Alabama did not look good (Saturday), they were lackluster,” Finebaum said Sunday morning during his weekly SportsCenter appearance.

“I am actually out on Alabama because of their running game. They just can’t get it going. To go far in the national championship, they will need to do better. They have one of the best quarterbacks, though, in Ty Simpson.”

Whether or not Finebaum is correct remains to be seen, but the concerns he raises certainly are valid. Even in their best offensive performances, a traditional running game for Alabama just has not really been there in the same way it had been during the heights of their dynasty.

If the Tide are going to be able to take down the best teams in the country who still await them in order to get where they want to be, running the ball and having at least some semblance of a balanced offense is going to be critical.

If they can’t, Finebaum will wind up being right and they likely will not be able to win a championship.