There have been basically no changes to the Alabama Crimson Tide during the off season. And by no changes I mean that GOD has returned to Alabama. No, not the Bear. No, not Charlie Weis. I mean Nick Saban! When reviewing this team it was important to look at all of the normal indicators of a great season.
Media Circus? Check. Scandal? Check. Full Spring Game? Check.
Obviously, they are a team on their way to the top! Let’s break it down for you.
Team: University of Alabama Crimson Tide
Location: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Stadium: Bryant-Denny Stadium - Capacity 92,138
Coach: Nick “God” Saban
2006 Record/Finish: 6-7
2007 H2DN Prediction: 7-5 (4-4) 3rd in the SEC West.
Top returner: Tyrone Prothro. He’s finally going to be able to run. And then you’ll see all sorts of crazy catches over subpar defenders! Western Carolina is going to be a breakout game!
Biggest loss: Mike Shula. Wait… the casual football fan’s biggest loss or the teams? Oh. I’d say Kenneth Darby.
ESPN Incessant Talking Point: “SABAN… 4 MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR… SAVIOR… TRADITION… THE BEAR… GLORY DAYS” Something like that.
Key offseason event: Firing Mike Shula. Seriously, a monkey could’ve been brought in and you’d have seen improvement.
Additional notes: The schedule is a godsend to Alabama fans. The non-conference schedule of Florida State and Houston could provide some problems, but they get LSU, Tennessee, Georgia, and Arkansas all at home. The only difficult away game is the Auburn game (the game against FSU is at a neutral site). With all the problems Arkansas is having right now, I would expect that Alabama would take that game from them. This puts them at 3-0 heading into the Georgia game. They’ll lose games against Georgia, FSU, LSU, Tennessee, and Auburn. Look for them in some mediocre bowl game (just like last year). Only this time, they’ll win.
Alabama fans are so fucking giddy right now about Saban, he could lose every game on the schedule and people would make excuses. Of course, the contract he signed basically raped the university. Alabama will improve some. They will look better on the field and you shouldn’t see as many stupid calls. The offensive line might actually block someone this time around, too. This is Saban’s honeymoon season, though, and I expect that he’s going to start off by disciplining people fairly harshly to set a precedent. He can get away with it.
If you listen to the die hard Alabama fans, they will lose no more than 2 games and be back in the national spotlight for doing well. Of course, if you listen to the die hard Alabama fans you’ll think that they are going to do this every year. You’ll also wonder how they were able to win 139 National Championships and how the “barners” down the road are all delusional.
They’ve been through a lot. 5 years in a row they have lost to their biggest rival. In that same period they lost 4 to LSU and 3 to Tennessee. It is going to take some work to get them back to what they’d consider their rightful place in football. Of course, most college football fans are hoping that Alabama will fall flat on their face so we can laugh at them paying someone $4 million to lose football games.
Fun Fact: H2DN writer SaxMaverick went out and did some legwork for me. This is what his report said:
THEY FUCKING SUCK!
Looks like a good report to me.
July 18, 2007 at 12:20 pm
My gods, I’ve gone blind!
Which means I’m ready for the UK season to start.