If you want to Win in the SEC

The golden question for 2009 is, "What's the key to success in the 2009 season for Alabama?" To answer this question I will try to answer with my best effort.

The first thing that has to happen for the Tide to be successful is the training of our offensive line. With an inexperienced quarterback, McElroy will need great protection coming from our line.

Alabama lost most of their line to the draft this past season: (TE) Nick Walker, (TE) Travis McCall, (G) Marlon Davis, (G) Andre Smith, and (G) Antoine Caldwell. Filling in these positions will be hard, but coach Saban looks to have done a great job. Filling in are Evan Cardwell, John Michael Boswell, James Carpenter, Adam Fuller, Mike Johnson, Barrett Jones, Tyler Love, Alfred McCullough, Bryan Motley, Taylor Pharr, David Ross, Allen Skelton, Chance Warmack, and David Williams. It is unclear who the starters will be.

Another key element is the training of the quarterback. Like I stated before, we have inexperience at that position, making it critical to train for the season.

Greg McElroy seams to be good when it comes to closing out the game, but now he is the starter. This is bigger than what he has been trained to do, and more training is necessary in order for him to lead us to a good season. All of the pressure is really put on his shoulders. He has a great running back lining up behind him, and great receivers are on the other end, so all he needs is protection and accuracy. With the right preparation, he could be a great QB.

Enough about our roster, though; how about our schedule? We will need to get off to a good start, and obtain hype in order to be successful. Last season, we had so much hype it was crazy. We can't afford to lose any of our first three or our games or we could lose all of the small amount of respect we have going into the season. We have to have a good start, or we could have a bad finish. 

Our coaching staff will need to make changes, for there are different skills at the many positions this year. Also, the plan to continue to better our defense against the spread offense will need to continue as there are many SEC teams starting it.

Coach Saban will need to take a great team and make it an elite team. He will need to get the losses in our post season out of the teammates' heads, and let them know that is a new season.

We can be the best if we try to be the best, not by thinking we are the best. That is our problem. We think we are the best, but don't give 100 percent. That was our problem during the Sugar Bowl. We thought that Utah was just a little MWC team, and we lost. Our attitudes got the better of us, and that's what happens. Saban needs to work on that.