Here is a great post by the boys at Crystal Ball run. It is a must read if you are trying to predict the national champion. Why? Because one of these teams is, for sure, not to play the in BCS Playoffs Championship game. History does tell us that at least one of these teams will be playing for the title, which is even more likely now that a team can have at least one slip up, even late in the season, and stay in the race. My bet is of course on Bama, but I think that these guys tend to agree that Bama looks strong again based off of Coach Saban’s track record and the reloading of talent on the defensive side of the ball. @InTheBleachers (Michael Felder) gives the strongest support to Bama’s chances. I completely agree with his assessment of the team and I hope that Bama proves him right.
Does anyone remember 2010 at all? How’d that work out for the Tide? Last time I checked that wasn’t a spectacular season in Tuscaloosa.
Michael Felder: That’s a patently false statement about Alabama. There’s a difference between “I haven’t heard of the next guys on the depth chart” and “they have no depth.” And let’s get one thing straight, Nick Saban is not the same laissez faire coach that Mack Brown is where development is concerned. Tana Patrick, CJ Mosley and Jonathan Atchison are linebackers with experience who should be starting, except they have better guys ahead of them. Nick Perry has played good snaps as the roaming back-up safety to both Vinnie Sunseri and Robert Lester. Up front they have a couple of bodies on defense who have seen considerable snaps in the rotation.
Big difference between not knowing the guys and not having any guys. USC has legitimate issues with depth. Alabama has guys who have played that you haven’t heard of.
As for 2010, you mean the defense that gave up 13.5 points a game? The defense that held Arkansas to 16 points below its season average? The defense that honestly played one bad game against South Carolina, thanks largely in part to Stephen Garcia playing lights out along with Alshon Jeffrey and Marcus Lattimore. Depth isn’t why Alabama lost to LSU and Auburn. Experience isn’t why the Crimson Tide lost to LSU and Auburn. They lost to LSU and Auburn because the run-pass dynamic of a mobile quarterback paralyzes a defense that’s rooted in rules, and Bama has struggled with that type of quarterback dating back to 2008’s SEC title game.
Here’s to hoping that 2010 doesn’t happen again.
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