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Alabama team, fans celebrate especially difficult title run

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. /January 20, 2018(AP)(STL.News)— Tens of thousands of fans gathered to celebrate Alabama‘s latest national championship, one that was especially hard to achieve.

This time the Crimson Tide had to overcome a loss in the final regular-season game, a series of defensive injuries and a period of uncertainty when it wasn’t clear if a fourth consecutive playoff invitation was even forthcoming.

Then there was the climactic title game with Georgia that included a 13-0 halftime deficit, a quarterback switch and an overtime that started with a huge sack of Tua Tagovailoa. The final play — Tagovailoa’s 41-yard touchdown heave to fellow freshman DeVonta Smith — was etched in the memories of Tide fans, players and coach Nick Saban.

“I don’t think anybody’s ever going to forget” that play, Saban told a crowd Alabama estimated at 40,000.

“I know I’ll never forget the feeling that I had when Tua takes a sack and one minute later the feeling that I had when we threw the touchdown pass,” he said.

It was the fifth, and perhaps most eventful, championship run of Saban’s 11-year tenure at Alabama. He also matched Bear Bryant with his sixth overall national title.

After receiving a much-debated berth despite a loss to Auburn, Alabama toppled playoff nemesis and top-ranked Clemson in the Sugar Bowl before beating the Bulldogs 26-23 in an All-Southeastern Conference matchup. Second in the SEC West, first in the nation.

“This whole 2017 season, man, it’s amazing,” senior linebacker Rashaan Evans said.

Evans was so excited after the game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, he says he didn’t take his pads off until returning to the hotel. It was at least the second title celebration for the seniors, and after a snow-filled week in much of the state, temperatures warmed up enough for a comfortable celebration.

Much warmer than the one two years ago.

“I’ve never seen this many fans at a celebration before,” senior center Bradley Bozeman said. “It’s unreal. We’re really blessed to have this fan base.”

Added Evans: “It’s almost like a reunion, man. I remember the first time, it wasn’t near as many people as it was (today). The fact that all of these fans came out, they took the time out of their day to come out here and just have fun with us, it means a lot.”

Team captains Evans, Bozeman, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton spoke at the podium. Hamilton missed the past two playoffs because of knee injuries but savored another championship celebration.

“I’d probably say this one is sweeter just because of the way how we finished out,” he said. “Nobody would have ever thought that after a sack and us being down, and boom, we come back with a haymaker in overtime. It makes the win that much sweeter.”

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock also were on hand.

This Alabama team is losing a number of key seniors plus five juniors leaving for the NFL draft , including Fitzpatrick, defensive tackle Da’Ron Payne, wide receiver Calvin Ridley, tailback Bo Scarbrough and safety Ronnie Harrison. The senior class won a record 53 games over four seasons against just five losses.

Saban ended his speech with a familiar message.

“For the seniors that are here on this team and the guys that will be leaving the team, my message after the game to them was, ‘Use the lessons that you learned in this season to help you be more successful in life. They will serve you well because the things that you did were extremely special,'” he said. “And to the players that are coming back, get ready for the challenges of the future and let everybody know that we’re not finished …”

He paused to let fans and players complete the sentence: “Yet.”

#1 Alabama Crimson Tide Projected Record -  10-2

Resistance is Futile

2015 -

2015 saw Alabama look to untrained eyes like a vulnerable giant.  With a massive turnover deficit and several lucky big plays (including the bounce off the head touchdown pass) the Ole Miss Landsharks were able to defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide for a second straight time.  When the Tide went to Athens Georgia, the Dawgs became the first team since Urban Meyer’s Florida squad to be favoured against the tide.  But...

Saban of Borg assimilated the rest of the SEC.  Georgia was no contest.  Arkansas was not a stressful game.  The Aggies were dispatched with extreme prejudice.  Tennessee fought, Tennessee failed.  LSU was dominated.  Hail State was embarassed.  Auburn and Florida served as little more than excersise in preperation for a laughable contest against an undeserving Michigan State.

Clemson was a worthy foe for Alabama.  But their dominion fell when placed against the robotic and irresistible Crimson Tide.  Alabama was the undisputed National Champion in 2015

What’s getting better?

The quarterbacking position for one.  I’m a huge fan of Cooper Batemand.  I’ve loved him in spring games and I loved him last season.  Given the leading role, I think he would be a clear step up.  But if he is beaten out by either 4 star David Cornwell (said to be fantastic) or 5 star Blake Barnett  then all the better for the tide.  Are you scared of a Bama with a top caliber QB?

The wide recieving position should also improve a lot.  The vast majority of yards not caught by Mulaney or Howard were caught by obscenely talented underclassmen.  Give these guys some experience and a 5 star QB and this could become one of the best passing games in FBS.  Are you scared?

Overall the offense will get much better as the running game won’t slide back (this is Alabama and it was aggressively overrated last year) and the line.. will be an Alabama line. 

As important as the QB, I would have to imagine 2016 will be a return to form for JK Scott.  I heard he had personal issues that stopped him from punting to his full potential last year.  But if that guy is back to flipping fields like he did in 2014, I feel really comfortable projecting Alabama to win the National Title.

What’s getting worse?

Well Kirby Smart is gone.  Jeremy Pruitt is an excellent replacement from the Nick Saban coaching tree so while I’d be wary, I wouldn’t be worried.  Decipher what you think that means.

Overall, I have some worries about maintaining the sheer excellence of the Alabama defense but I have no worries that the defense will be a weakness. It just has nowhere to go but down.  It hasn’t really gone down in most of a decade.

2016:

Do you get the theme?  Ole Miss is trending down.  LSU still has mountain to climb (though they might).  Hail State lost Dak.  TAMU is a mess.  Auburn is unproven (but dangerous). Arkansas is unarmed.  Its weird to say that, aside from LSU, Tennessee might be the only thing standing between Alabama and the 2016 playoffs.  I think they would be the clear and obvious favorite against Clemson, FSU, ND, Ohio State, and Oklahoma right now.

This could, if the offense plays to its potential and the defense holds strong, this could be the best Nick Saban era Alabama Crimson Tide yet.

#27 Hail State Bulldogs Computer Projection: #21

Yes.... every single SEC West team is making the top 30.  Fight me

2015: 

The 2015 Hail State wasn’t as good as the 2014 Bulldgods - leaving this typo - (or Ha1l State) but they were the definition of secret good. They scored wins over Arkansas and Auburn (both in down years) and lost by only 2 to LSU.  Their dominance of non SEC West teams was overlooked as they played no strong out of division competition.  The offense was still strong, scoring over 40 points in 5 FBS games to being held under 20 only 4 times (and one of those in a win)  2-4 is still a fine division record in the West

Why so high?

Dan Mullen took the least experienced team in football last year and got them to #16 in my computer.  Now they lose an incredibly productive (if overrated and error prone) senior quarterback but they still step it up in overall experience.  They’ve become one of the better recruiting teams in the country.  And for an SEC West team.. they play an easy schedule where winning 7 out of division games (counting the bowl) could very reasonably occur making a good top 25 ranking very attainable

Why so low?

This is still the least talented SEC West team breaking in a new quarterback, playing Alabama, LSU et al in divisional play.  A really good team can go 2-4 in this division and so Hail State is given a most likely record of 7-5.  The overall caliber of this team I’d feel confident projecting into the top 25 best teams in the country... but the record might not reflect that enough to get them the AP Poll votes. Also... Hail State has a ceiling being in the division they are in.

2016:

Ole Miss Is Now #3 In the AP Top 25…At What Point Do They Drop Out of the Top 10 For Good?

Ole Miss did something this weekend that they did last season. They defeated an over-rated Alabama team. Good for them. Now, by the nature of the idiocy of the people who vote on college football rankings, they are #3 in the Associated Press poll. They managed to pass TCU. Why? Because people need an SEC team in the mix for the Playoff discussion.

Put aside for a moment how there’s a damn good…