The college season is about to begin and all eyes are on the SEC as they usually produce one half of the national championship game. Last year, Alabama had a great regular season and was within one quarter of winning the SEC title game against Florida. Of course, we all know that Florida took control in the 4th quarter and won going away 31-20. From there, Florida went on to win the national title and the Crimson Tide got embarrassed in their bowl game against Utah 31-17. So, has Alabama improved to the point where they can get past Florida, their likely opponent in this year’s SEC title game? Well if you want any chance of beating Tebow and crew, you had better be able to score.
Alabama is returning most of their defensive starters from last year, so defense should hold up their end of the bargain. But don’t forget they gave up 31 points in each of their last 2 games to end the season and Nick Saban has been steaming ever since. To call Saban intense is to call Charlie Weis a little chubby, so I look for him to get that corrected. Whether he can improve the offense enough is the question. Last year, they had a good running offense, but were very ordinary in the passing game when the run game was stopped. Their projected starter is Greg McElroy and early reports say he is much more athletic than the departed John Parker Wilson. Folks, all that tells me is the guy can’t throw…. The other problem on offense is they lost their best two lineman and are replaced by untested players.
Their schedule is somewhat easy as SEC schedules go and if they can get by Virginia Tech in Atlanta in their opener, their only road challenge will come at Ole Miss on Oct. 10th. If they survive that, the only hurdle to getting to the title game again is when LSU travels to Tuscaloosa on Nov. 7th. I think if they get to the title game and another bowl game, they will have a successful season. National championship aspirations will have to wait….