SEC Football Preview: Avoiding complacency is Alabama’s struggle

story by Chris Rushing, College Sports Matchups (CSM is a content partner with The City Wire)
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So much has been written about the University of Alabama since January that coming up with a fresh angle is near impossible. There isn’t much to dislike surrounding the Crimson Tide program nowadays, and rivals fear that a return to the dominance of the 60s and 70s may be just beginning for Bama. As long as UA’s largest foe — complacency — doesn’t rear its ugly head, the 2009 national championship is just the beginning and not an end result of Nick Saban’s process.

There is a reason that only two schools have been repeat champions since the inception of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998. With a heightened struggle to stay on top of the game with facilities, recruiting and maintaining a staff following a championship season, it does not take much logic to understand why college football has not had a repeat national champion since Nebraska’s two-year reign in 1994-95.

The Alabama football team is looking to join Florida and LSU in that elite group as well as establish a precedent for being the first back-to-back winner in the BCS era.

On offense, the Crimson Tide appears to be as lethal as anyone in the country. Greg McElroy and his sparkling record as a starter contains no blemishes dating back to his junior high school days in Texas. Julio Jones appears near the top of nearly every National Football League draft analysis wide receiver boards. Mark Ingram is the school’s first Heisman Trophy winner yet may have to see his workload reduced with talented backups like Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy waiting in the wings.

It’s on defense, Saban’s specialty, where things could be a bit rough (especially early) for UA in 2010. Kirby Smart turned down overtures from the University of Georgia following the Tide’s victory over Texas in the BCS title game in January to oversee a unit that replaces nine of 11 starters as well as the top eight on the 2009 depth chart in the secondary.

To top it off, reports out of preseason camp have not been flattering concerning the Bama kicking game with new starters at both the placekicking and punting spots. Leigh Tiffin had a rough start to his Alabama career, but there is no question to his value the past two seasons where UA has won 26 of 28 contests.

The concerns in the defense and kicking games are not scaring off the expectations levied on the program, however, as Alabama will kick off against San Jose State on Sept. 4 as the country’s undisputed No. 1 team. The Associated Press made that designation official on Aug. 21 with the unveiling of its preseason top 25.

All those purposed negatives surrounding the program can be offset by Bama playing smart football yet again in 2010. A year ago, the Tide boasted the league’s third-lowest penalized squad as well as a +19 turnover margin (31 takeaways, 12 giveaways) to power the defensive onslaught that was tops in the NCAA. Since Saban has taken over the UA program in 2007, it has been one the SEC’s least penalized and best at protecting the football while having possession.

If history does in fact repeat itself, there is nothing to believe that trend will not continue this fall.

So, it goes without saying that the biggest hurdle blocking the Tide is complacency. It seems to always overtake programs after winning the crystal football, and Saban even succumbed to it following the 2003 title at LSU. No one is immune, but the leadership bestowed upon names like Mark Barron, Dont’a Hightower, Ingram and McElroy is better than anything Saban had returning in 2004 in Baton Rouge.

Both Smart and offensive coordinator Jim McElwain returned to the Capstone for another season, offering the roster complete familiarity with the schemes and playbooks on both sides of the ball. McElwain and Smart are each fully capable of running their own program and will soon get their respective opportunities. The stability for 2010, however, should provide Bama with yet another advantage – in case three-straight top-five recruiting classes aren’t enough.

The schedule features six SEC opponents having a bye week leading up to their showdown with Saban and Co. A failed effort to power the SEC office into changing some schedules headlined a relatively quiet April and May within the league, and Mike Slive has promised to use his power as SEC Commissioner to prevent such a scheduling faux pas from happening to another school in the future.

As we have seen from the celebrations, parades and trophies earned by the 2009 team, all is well in Tuscaloosa again. The question is: can they keep 2009 from tripping up 2010?

• QUICK LOOK: University of Alabama 2010
Starters Returning: 8 Offense, 2 Defense, 0 Specialist – 10
Key to the Team: Dont’a Hightower, LB
Most likely to breakout: Josh Chapman, DT
Most important game: at Arkansas, Sept. 25