For the previous two seasons -- and honestly, for the majority of several seasons before that -- the rest of the SEC was chasing Alabama.

Everyone will open the 2016 season as the Crimson Tide's pursuers, again, although only a few teams are legitimate threats to catch up to Nick Saban's juggernaut. Over the next several days, we'll take a look at the Tide's fellow SEC contenders and their cases for overtaking Alabama in the upcoming season.

We begin the series now with SEC West rival Arkansas:

How they can beat Alabama: The Razorbacks have steadily improved under coach Bret Bielema and gave Alabama all it could handle last season in Tuscaloosa. Arkansas led until late in the third quarter, when Alabama finally buried the Razorbacks with a late scoring run. In fact, it was the second straight season that Robb Smith's defense gave Lane Kiffin's offense serious problems. Smith worked with a largely inexperienced defense last season and still had his bunch ready to stifle Derrick Henry and Co. for most of the night. The vast majority of Smith's starters will be back this fall, so don't be surprised if the Hogs give Alabama fits again in its return trip to Arkansas. That's the way this series has gone of late.

What's standing in their way: Arkansas has lost a ton of firepower on offense. Not only are star running backs Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams gone, so are tight end Hunter Henry, offensive linemen Sebastian Tretola and Denver Kirkland and quarterback Brandon Allen -- arguably the nation's most improved signal-caller in 2015. They still have some nice weapons at receiver, and tight end Jeremy Sprinkle could develop into one of the SEC's better players at his position, but there are a lot of question marks facing Dan Enos' offense as spring practice approaches.

X factor: Arkansas' quarterback competition features some promising talent. Austin Allen, Brandon's younger brother, is a huge unknown, but at least he has seen some game action. Competitors Ricky Town and Ty Storey are even bigger mysteries, having redshirted last season. They were all four-star prospects when they signed out of high school, so Enos has some encouraging options. The question is whether he can get the eventual starter to the level that Brandon Allen reached last season. Allen and Enos helped transform the Hogs from a one-dimensional team into one of the most well-rounded offenses in the conference in 2015.