Can Alabama shake the double-digit win jinx in '09?
by Ben Cook, Lindyssports.com columnist
The preseason football magazines are out and they are placing high expectations on the one team that has a recent history of not meeting those expectations.
Itās not a surprise that all the picks like this team. After all, it is coming off a 12-win season and has nine players returning off the defense that was one of the best in the country. The top kicker and punter are back. The only negatives are an offense that only welcomes back four starters and lost the quarterback who holds almost all the schoolās passing records.
Of course, the team is Alabama.
The biggest question is whether last season was a preview of what life is going to be like at Alabama now that Saint Nick has put down roots or was last year the kiss of death that a double-figure winning season has been for the Crimson Tide over the past decade?
Just look at Alabamaās recent history. It aināt pretty.
Alabama posted a 10-3 record in Gene Stallingsā final season in 1996, but followed it up with a disappointing 4-7 mark under Mike Dubose in 1997.
In 1999, Dubose led the Tide to a 10-3 mark and an SEC championship. Alabama was picked No. 3 in the preseason polls the following year but the Tide finished 3-8 and Dubose was gone at the end of the season.
In 2002, Dennis Franchione led Alabama to another 10-3 record and he left. Alabama brought in Mike Shula and followed up the big season with a 4-9 mark in 2003.
In 2005, Alabama again reached double-figures with another 10-win season by going 10-2. But again, Alabama could not build on the success. The 2006 season produced a 6-7 mark and Shula was sacked before the team lost in the bowl game to finish off the losing season.
Alabama has not followed up a double-figure winning season with a winning record the following season since the 1995 team posted an 8-3 mark to follow up the 12-1 record of the 1994 team, both coached by Stallings.
The last time Alabama posted consecutive double-figure winning seasons was 1991 and 1992, Alabamaās last national championship year.
So looking back is not encouraging for Alabama fans. Last yearās 12-2 season was a fun ride for the Crimson Tide, but it ended badly. After losing to Florida in the SEC Championship Game and getting blown out by Utah in the Sugar Bowl, the bad news kept coming in the offseason.
The Alabama text book scandal brought down harsh penalties from the NCAA that put the team back on probation for another three years and has cost the team 21 victories that were vacated, although Alabama has filed an appeal of the vacated victories. The appeal smacks of desperation and has little chance of succeeding, but most people would have thought Alabama had little chance to win 12 games last season either. But it did, so why not take a shot on retaining those 21 wins?
What has to be of bigger concern for Alabama has to be the puzzling trend of following up double-figure winning seasons with losing seasons. There is a possible explanation for only one of those seasons, the year Franchione let go of the rope in the face of impending NCAA sanctions and bolted to Texas A&M following the 10-3 season. Shula took over for 2003, but he was inexperienced and it showed. Most wrote off his first-year 4-9 record as a product of the situation he inherited and assumed it would get better. It did, Shula would record a double-figure winning season two years later before he was sacked the following year.
So coming off the 12 wins of last season, the expectations are again running rampant for the Crimson Tide. The return of so many starters on defense is the main reason. Well, to be truthful, the main reason is Nick Saban. With Saban still holding the rope, Tide fans feel confident that is more important than losing the quarterback and the heart of the offensive line. Saban knows how to win and he has the talent pipeline flowing again as evidenced by the past two highly-ranked recruiting classes.
Maybe the high expectations are due for a punch in the stomach again. Maybe the key personnel losses coupled with the shocking blow from the NCAA will once again do in the Tide. Or maybe the keys are in place to break the curse that double-figure winning seasons have brought to Alabama since the mid-1990s. Nobody knows for sure, but the prognosticators donāt seem to care about the recent history, they believe the Tide is back to stay this time.
Cautiously, I believe this time they are right.
http://www.lindyssports.com/article.php?cn=848
by Ben Cook, Lindyssports.com columnist
The preseason football magazines are out and they are placing high expectations on the one team that has a recent history of not meeting those expectations.
Itās not a surprise that all the picks like this team. After all, it is coming off a 12-win season and has nine players returning off the defense that was one of the best in the country. The top kicker and punter are back. The only negatives are an offense that only welcomes back four starters and lost the quarterback who holds almost all the schoolās passing records.
Of course, the team is Alabama.
The biggest question is whether last season was a preview of what life is going to be like at Alabama now that Saint Nick has put down roots or was last year the kiss of death that a double-figure winning season has been for the Crimson Tide over the past decade?
Just look at Alabamaās recent history. It aināt pretty.
Alabama posted a 10-3 record in Gene Stallingsā final season in 1996, but followed it up with a disappointing 4-7 mark under Mike Dubose in 1997.
In 1999, Dubose led the Tide to a 10-3 mark and an SEC championship. Alabama was picked No. 3 in the preseason polls the following year but the Tide finished 3-8 and Dubose was gone at the end of the season.
In 2002, Dennis Franchione led Alabama to another 10-3 record and he left. Alabama brought in Mike Shula and followed up the big season with a 4-9 mark in 2003.
In 2005, Alabama again reached double-figures with another 10-win season by going 10-2. But again, Alabama could not build on the success. The 2006 season produced a 6-7 mark and Shula was sacked before the team lost in the bowl game to finish off the losing season.
Alabama has not followed up a double-figure winning season with a winning record the following season since the 1995 team posted an 8-3 mark to follow up the 12-1 record of the 1994 team, both coached by Stallings.
The last time Alabama posted consecutive double-figure winning seasons was 1991 and 1992, Alabamaās last national championship year.
So looking back is not encouraging for Alabama fans. Last yearās 12-2 season was a fun ride for the Crimson Tide, but it ended badly. After losing to Florida in the SEC Championship Game and getting blown out by Utah in the Sugar Bowl, the bad news kept coming in the offseason.
The Alabama text book scandal brought down harsh penalties from the NCAA that put the team back on probation for another three years and has cost the team 21 victories that were vacated, although Alabama has filed an appeal of the vacated victories. The appeal smacks of desperation and has little chance of succeeding, but most people would have thought Alabama had little chance to win 12 games last season either. But it did, so why not take a shot on retaining those 21 wins?
What has to be of bigger concern for Alabama has to be the puzzling trend of following up double-figure winning seasons with losing seasons. There is a possible explanation for only one of those seasons, the year Franchione let go of the rope in the face of impending NCAA sanctions and bolted to Texas A&M following the 10-3 season. Shula took over for 2003, but he was inexperienced and it showed. Most wrote off his first-year 4-9 record as a product of the situation he inherited and assumed it would get better. It did, Shula would record a double-figure winning season two years later before he was sacked the following year.
So coming off the 12 wins of last season, the expectations are again running rampant for the Crimson Tide. The return of so many starters on defense is the main reason. Well, to be truthful, the main reason is Nick Saban. With Saban still holding the rope, Tide fans feel confident that is more important than losing the quarterback and the heart of the offensive line. Saban knows how to win and he has the talent pipeline flowing again as evidenced by the past two highly-ranked recruiting classes.
Maybe the high expectations are due for a punch in the stomach again. Maybe the key personnel losses coupled with the shocking blow from the NCAA will once again do in the Tide. Or maybe the keys are in place to break the curse that double-figure winning seasons have brought to Alabama since the mid-1990s. Nobody knows for sure, but the prognosticators donāt seem to care about the recent history, they believe the Tide is back to stay this time.
Cautiously, I believe this time they are right.
http://www.lindyssports.com/article.php?cn=848
