After Alabama nearly got run off its own field by Ole Miss on Saturday (the final score made it look much more competitive than it really was), the sentiment regarding the state of Alabama football is the times have passed the Crimson Tide and head coach Nick Saban. Don’t be silly. Alabama is still going to be a very good football team next week, and the week after that and the many weeks after that. Alabama losing to Ole Miss was no more seismic a shift in stature than Texas A&M and Johnny Manziel a few years ago. Things worked out ok for Alabama then, right?
It is because Alabama has set the bar so high that any slight crack in the foundation will be cause for a red alarm in Tuscaloosa, depending on whom you ask. Matt Hayes of The Sporting News outlines various excuses being made from the Alabama program.Pat Forde of Yahoo! says the loss to Ole Miss is the beginning of the end fo the dynasty of Alabama. Dan Wolken of USA Today digs into the rise of doubt within the program. While all three make some good points, the bottom line all three lay out this is not the Alabama program that bullied its way through the SEC and won three BCS titles in a span of four years.
While all three make some fair observations and statements, do not be fooled into thinking Alabama is suddenly going to fall out of the annual national title conversation. The Crimson Tide continue to pack the talent through recruiting efforts that are nearly unrivaled on a year-to-year basis, and much of that incoming talent is developed well enough to p[ass on to the NFL the way only a small handful of programs can. Also, one loss is far from the breaking point for a
Is Alabama invincible? Of course not. This season saw Alabama need to replace all but two starters son offense, and the defense lost some key players from last year’s team. In a season that has already demonstrated no team is a clear runaway winner early on, Alabama is simply the biggest, and perhaps easiest, target to lock on to with any whiff of concern. Nobody was expressing this level of concern after week one when Alabama flattened Wisconsin with a dominating running game and strong defensive play, right? But now that Alabama lost a game, the floodgates are suddenly open.
It’s true, Alabama does have some challenges ahead of them, with road games at Georgia, Texas A&M and Auburn still awaiting them on the schedule, not to mention a home game against a surging LSU program. Maybe Alabama loses some of them. If they do, the critics will continue to pound the program in a big way. It will all just set up the Alabama revival columns later on though when the Crimson Tide inevitably return to the national title picture in full force later this year or next.