SEC PREVIEW: Alabama
What an Alabama Fan Thinks: “BAMA’S BACK BABY…..BAMA’S BACK. We win the National Title this year. 12-0. Hell Yeah!!!! Roll Tide!!!!!!”
What an Auburn Fan Thinks: “Fear the Thumb. Too bad Brodie can’t come back so we can sack his candy ass again. In all honesty, they will be middle of the road. Well, that is assuming they can repair that lovely little offensive line of theirs. Sure the defense will be fine, but come on all someone has to do is put up 21 points and they will lose.”
What Do I Think?: After rolling off nine straight wins last year, the Tide lost at home to LSU and in Auburn to end the regular season. This season looks to be a rough patch for Alabama as they have lost Brodie Croyle and several defensive starters including DeMeco Ryans (MLB) and Freddie Roach (MLB). Plus, the top playmaker and speedster, Tryron Prothro, will likely not play the entire season (or at least a majority of it) as he recovers from the devastating broken ankle in the Florida game last year.
The loss of Croyle will hurt significantly. The offense was relatively punchless after Prothro went down and what little aerial fireworks there were came because of Croyle. Plus, a senior quarterback is naturally a leader on the field and Croyle certainly filled that role perfectly last year. Replacing him will be John Parker Wilson. Wilson is obviously a step down from Croyle. In fact his play is so poor that Tim Tebow would have started had he chose to attend Alabama. However, Wilson will simply have to hand the ball off and not make mistakes. Ken Darby returns and is probably the second best tailback in the SEC being McFadden (well okay, it’s a tie between he and Irons). Darby will have to run well because the offensive line will struggle much of the year again.
Defense is always the calling card of Alabama football teams. Expect this year to be no different. Yes, the linebackers and secondary face huge gaps in inexperience, but there is talent there and Joe Kines will orchestrate another miracle on the field and somehow make the defense respectable. He honestly is the only thing allowing Mike Shula to keep his job.
This Alabama team will be the least talented and experienced of the Shula’s three previous teams. The only thing that will help is the schedule which features five very winnable games. I am probably understating the challenge that Hawaii will pose to that young defense, but I think the Tide will prevail. I put Arkansas and Auburn as coin tosses because Alabama gets both teams at home. To be honest, there is a lot of motivation there to beat Auburn and it could happen. In the end, though I’ll say that the Tide will win the games they are supposed to win and lose the games they are supposed to lose. A very pedestrian seven wins.
Easily Win: Louisiana-Monore, Duke, Vanderbilt, Florida International, and Mississippi State
Should Win: Hawaii and Ole Miss
Coin Toss: Arkansas and Auburn
Might Lose: Florida, Tennessee, and LSU
Will Lose: None
Alabama Factoid You May Not Have Known: Obviously, Bear Bryant is the most significant coach in Alabama’s history. He is one of the greatest coaches in the history of college football. He accounts for 30% of Alabama’s 774 victories (not counting bowl games). The next closest coach is Frank Thomas with 15%. How big has the dropoff been since Bryant left the head job? There have been 23 seasons (280 games) of Tide football since Bryant’s last game. While Bryant coached in 25 seasons, he coached in a total of 287 games (not counting bowl games) and had a winning percentage of 0.808. Since then, the seven head coaches have compiled a 0.646 winning percentage. Consider this, if Bryant had remained coaching at Alabama up through last year (I will give you that he would be 93, but this is just fantasy anyway) and kept that winning percentage, Alabama would have 45.3 more victories. Rounding down to 45 more means they would sit at number two, behind Michigan, with 819 total program victories. Plus, they wouldn’t have lost four straight to Auburn (cheap shot, I know).
What an Auburn Fan Thinks: “Fear the Thumb. Too bad Brodie can’t come back so we can sack his candy ass again. In all honesty, they will be middle of the road. Well, that is assuming they can repair that lovely little offensive line of theirs. Sure the defense will be fine, but come on all someone has to do is put up 21 points and they will lose.”
What Do I Think?: After rolling off nine straight wins last year, the Tide lost at home to LSU and in Auburn to end the regular season. This season looks to be a rough patch for Alabama as they have lost Brodie Croyle and several defensive starters including DeMeco Ryans (MLB) and Freddie Roach (MLB). Plus, the top playmaker and speedster, Tryron Prothro, will likely not play the entire season (or at least a majority of it) as he recovers from the devastating broken ankle in the Florida game last year.
The loss of Croyle will hurt significantly. The offense was relatively punchless after Prothro went down and what little aerial fireworks there were came because of Croyle. Plus, a senior quarterback is naturally a leader on the field and Croyle certainly filled that role perfectly last year. Replacing him will be John Parker Wilson. Wilson is obviously a step down from Croyle. In fact his play is so poor that Tim Tebow would have started had he chose to attend Alabama. However, Wilson will simply have to hand the ball off and not make mistakes. Ken Darby returns and is probably the second best tailback in the SEC being McFadden (well okay, it’s a tie between he and Irons). Darby will have to run well because the offensive line will struggle much of the year again.
Defense is always the calling card of Alabama football teams. Expect this year to be no different. Yes, the linebackers and secondary face huge gaps in inexperience, but there is talent there and Joe Kines will orchestrate another miracle on the field and somehow make the defense respectable. He honestly is the only thing allowing Mike Shula to keep his job.
This Alabama team will be the least talented and experienced of the Shula’s three previous teams. The only thing that will help is the schedule which features five very winnable games. I am probably understating the challenge that Hawaii will pose to that young defense, but I think the Tide will prevail. I put Arkansas and Auburn as coin tosses because Alabama gets both teams at home. To be honest, there is a lot of motivation there to beat Auburn and it could happen. In the end, though I’ll say that the Tide will win the games they are supposed to win and lose the games they are supposed to lose. A very pedestrian seven wins.
Easily Win: Louisiana-Monore, Duke, Vanderbilt, Florida International, and Mississippi State
Should Win: Hawaii and Ole Miss
Coin Toss: Arkansas and Auburn
Might Lose: Florida, Tennessee, and LSU
Will Lose: None
Alabama Factoid You May Not Have Known: Obviously, Bear Bryant is the most significant coach in Alabama’s history. He is one of the greatest coaches in the history of college football. He accounts for 30% of Alabama’s 774 victories (not counting bowl games). The next closest coach is Frank Thomas with 15%. How big has the dropoff been since Bryant left the head job? There have been 23 seasons (280 games) of Tide football since Bryant’s last game. While Bryant coached in 25 seasons, he coached in a total of 287 games (not counting bowl games) and had a winning percentage of 0.808. Since then, the seven head coaches have compiled a 0.646 winning percentage. Consider this, if Bryant had remained coaching at Alabama up through last year (I will give you that he would be 93, but this is just fantasy anyway) and kept that winning percentage, Alabama would have 45.3 more victories. Rounding down to 45 more means they would sit at number two, behind Michigan, with 819 total program victories. Plus, they wouldn’t have lost four straight to Auburn (cheap shot, I know).
posted by Buford T. Justice at 1:12 PM
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