Head Coach: Nick Saban (55-11 , entering 6th season)
The Story: The recipient of one of the biggest breaks in recent college football memory, Alabama worked their way into a rematch against the only team they lost to in the regular season. Unworthy? No! They were very worthy. In fact, they took advantage of the BCS kindness, and literally pounded LSU to win their second National Championship in 3 years. The Crimson Tide have lost some pretty important pieces off of last year?s squad, but they?re still the Toxic Shock Syndrome of college football. LOOK OUT WORLD!
The Glaring Stat: 3. Rushing touchdowns by Alabama opponents last year.
The Outlook:
When your talking Alabama football, you?ve got to talk defense. What Nick Saban has established on that side of the ball is borderline insane. In 2011, only ONE team scored more than 14 points on these guys, and that team was Georgia Southern. Yeah, they replace two superstar linebackers Courtney Upshaw and Dont?a Hightower, but will such a move lead to the downfall of everything great at Alabama? Probably not. Two other studs return in the interior, Nico Johnson and C.J. Mosely. Often behind Hightower on the depth chart, Mosely was amazing in limited playing time. Adrian Hubbard will be taking Upshaw?s role on the outside, and is seen by many to be the fixture on many college football awards lists in the future. Up front tackle returning starter Jesse Williams comes in at 6?4? and 320 bills. His stats weren?t sexy, but the Alabama 3-4 defense isn?t always designed for the linemen to put up crazy numbers. Williams might end the year as the best defensive player in the SEC. The secondary is making a line change too, however, Vinnie Sunseri (All-Freshman SEC), Ha?Sean Clinton-Dix and DeMarcus Milliner all saw playing time last year, like everyone else on this defense they were all top flight recruits who will be replaced by more top flight recruits should they not pan out.
Nick Saban takes that defensive attitude and just shoves into his offensive line. As a result, Alabama has been able to physically dominate the front lines of about 99% of their opponents the last 4-5 years. Outland Trophy winner Barrett Jones decided to forgo the riches of the NFL for one for year at center in Tuscaloosa. He?s the best offensive lineman in the country, and is impossible to penetrate. D.J. Fluker is another name to watch on that line. He?ll undoubtedly be running game in the NFL one day. These guys will be looked at again to help create holes for the Alabama rushers, as the Tide are without Trent Richardson this year. OH NO WHAT SORT OF AWESOME TALENT DO THEY HAVE TO REPLACE HIM WITH? Eddie Lacy who we all saw in spurts last year will get the majority of the carries this fall (631 yards rushing in 2011), but look for freshman T.J. Yeldon to eat away at that as the season progresses. He?s the future of the Alabama backfield. A.J. McCarron might be the best quarterback Alabama has seen in a long time. He?s incredibly smart, only throwing on 5 interceptions as a sophomore, while completing almost 70% of his passes. Alabama will always lean on the running game, but A.J. McCarron?s arm isn?t a bad backup plan.
The Schedule:
Sep. 1 Michigan (in Arlington)
Sep. 8 WKU
Sep. 15 at Arkansas
Sep. 22 Florida Atlantic
Sep. 29 Ole Miss
Oct. 6 OPEN DATE
Oct. 13 at Missouri
Oct. 20 at Tennessee
Oct. 27 Mississippi State
Nov. 3 at LSU
Nov. 10 Texas A&M
Nov. 17 Western Carolina
Nov. 24 Auburn
The game against Michigan is probably the marque matchup of the opening weekend of college football. Should they get through Michigan, and take out Arkansas two weeks later, I don?t see another team in this lineup that will give them any sort of problem outside of LSU. So much like last year, LSU and Alabama will be playing a key primetime game in November. One which could decide a spot in the National Championship game.
The Record: 12-0. SEC Champs (I guess I could say 13-0, but whatever)
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