The State of the Union of Alabama Football
Well, let's see. Here are the stats that come to mind. If I'm not perfectly correct, I'm sure someone will correct me. But this is what I've come up with:
We just made the CFP for the fifth time - that would be every year there's been a CFP.
We made it to the finals for the fourth time since the CFP was created.
We've won the championship 2 times.
Here are our stats for the last 5 years:
2014 - 12-2, SEC champs, National championship semi-finalist
2015 - 14-1, SEC champs, National champions
2016 - 14-1, SEC champs, National championship finalist
2017 - 13-1, National champions
2018 - 14-1, SEC champs, National championship finalist
To summarize:
Record last 5 years: 67-6
4 SEC championships
2 national championships
2 national championship finalists
1 national championship semi-finalist
I think this year's CFP made it evident that we had a team loaded with talent and a coaching staff of great recruiters, but they lacked the coaching experience to create a game plan and make the adjustments during the game necessary to win the championship. I think the staff changes we're currently seeing are addressing those issues.
Our OC did well enough to get a HC job, so he's leaving.
Gattis and Enos want to be OCs and call the plays, but Saban doesn't think they're ready. So they're leaving for OC positions at other schools.
The OL wasn't as good as it could've been, so Saban is replacing that position coach.
He's also working to find the best position coaches and OC he can find to fill the openings on the staff. With the talent we have, there should be coaches lining up to fill those positions.
We have a Heisman finalist returning at QB.
We have one of the best receiving corps in the nation returning.
We have 17 starters returning - from a team that finished #2 in the nation.
We have another #1 recruiting class joining the team. In fact, some say this is the best class Saban has brought to the Capstone. Stop and think about that for a minute.
In light of all of that, I think the state of the union for Bama football is very, very strong.
Roll Tide!