Can the Alabama Crimson Tide Defend Its BCS Crown in 2010?
February 24, 2010
The Crimson Tide may be headed into rough waters.
There has not been a back-to-back national champion in almost 15 years, and there have only been two teams in the past 30 years to accomplish that feat.
Alabama did it in 1978 and 1979, and Nebraska did it in 1994 and 1995.
Winning back-to-back national championships is one of the most difficult feats in sports, and winning back-to-back BCS championships has never been done.
Alabama now faces one of the most difficult tasks in college football—defending a national championship.
What does it take to defend a national championship?
Great football players?
Yes, but it takes much more than that.
Great coaches?
Yes, but that is just one piece of the puzzle.
A little luck?
Yes, you need some of that too.
So what does it take to win back-to-back national championships?
It takes the one thing that most teams are the most short of the year after a national championship—hunger!
Most teams succumb to what I call “post-championship syndrome.” It is what happens to a team when it finally reaches a goal like winning the BCS championship. That kind of success saps you of your will to win; it takes away your hunger and your drive.
It is especially true when you have so many players returning from that championship team. This is the case with Alabama.
Alabama will return many of the players of the team that won the BCS national championship. In fact, you could say they will be returning almost all of that team.
When Alabama takes the field in 2010, almost the entire team will have participated in the BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena, CA.
It is up to the coach and the team leaders to make the 2010 version of the Crimson Tide understand that what happened last year will not help them this year. In fact, it will only make things tougher for this year’s team.
It is up to the team to realize that it is human nature to lose your competitive edge after you reach the top of the pyramid. It is also up to this team to accept that every team it plays will try to make its mark by beating the reigning BCS champions.
Nick Saban and his staff will have their work cut out for them starting in March when the team begins spring practice.
The toughest part of the job will be to make the young men that won the 2009 BCS championship forget about 2009 and begin to see 2010 for what it is—starting over from square one.
The list of teams that have won the national championship in college football only to fall flat on their face is long and includes great teams like Florida, USC, LSU, Ohio State, Texas, and Oklahoma.
Will Alabama fall to that fate, or will they be among the few truly great college football teams that can overcome their own vanity and continue playing with the hunger and intensity shown by the previous class?
Alabama had some pretty great talent on its 2009 squad, including Heisman winner Mark Ingram, defensive stars Rolando McClain and Terrence Cody, and offensive greats like Mike Johnson, Greg McElroy, and Julio Jones, but what made Alabama great last year was their will to win, their mental toughness, their tenacity, and their hunger.
Championship teams do not just happen. It takes chemistry, leadership, talent, and an iron will.
Next year’s Alabama team will be talented. There will be three top five recruiting classes on the field plus Saban’s first class, which was ranked at No. 10.
Yes, that is correct. This is now officially Nick Saban’s team, and that being the case, they already know what is expected of them.
With most of the offense returning and a talented defense loaded with young players with plenty of playing experience, you would think Alabama would be a sure thing in 2010.
The truth is, even with all that talent and a great coaching staff returning, if Saban and his assistants don’t get this team’s mind right, any dreams of repeating as SEC or BCS champions is just that—a dream.
Saban has been down this road before when he was at LSU. After winning the BCS title and the SEC title in 2003, LSU stumbled through 2004 by going 6-2 in league play, ending the season with a loss to Iowa in the Capital One Bowl and finishing 10-3.
LSU finished second to Auburn in the SEC West and didn’t even make it to a BCS bowl game after starting the year favored in many polls.
There is one thing about Saban: He doesn’t make the same mistake twice very often. He uses every disappointment or failure as a learning experience and a teaching tool.
I believe Saban has his eye on returning to the BCS again this year, and with that being said, Saban will take a different approach with this team.
Keeping in mind that overconfidence and complacency are like a cancer to a football team, I believe he will push this team even harder and work any complacency or arrogance out of their minds.
There is no reason this team should not be just as successful as 2009′s BCS championship team, but it will be up to the 2010 version of the Alabama Crimson Tide to get out of its own way and play with the kind of mental toughness that the 2009 squad was known for.
That task will begin on March 12, 2010, when Alabama begins spring practice, and will not end until they are the last team standing in January of 2011.
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