Alabama Crimson Tide Football: Back on Top

It took a while.

Some say too long, some say not long enough. But it happened.

Alabama is finally back on top of college football.

The length of time since the last 'Bama championship has been marred by years of mediocrity brought on by NCAA sanctions and probation. There was even talk of the "death penalty" at one point.

There have been a few coaches since the last title too. One of those coaches was hired and never made it to the field after a scandal rocked Mike Price's six-month tenure right off its tracks.

After being, for lack of a better word, screwed by Dennis Franccione when he left the Tide high and dry two seasons into his briefly successful tenure, the Price debacle was about as low as low could get for Alabama.

After native son Mike Shula experienced very limited success in four seasons, Alabama's never-say-die athletic Director Mal Moore had enough.

Enter Nick Saban.

Saban is the fifth head coach since Gene Stallings was carried off the field in New Orleans on that January night in 1993.

Nick Saban had a national championship pedigree. Nick Saban was so successful in the college ranks the first time around, he parlayed that success into an NFL coaching gig.

After making Michigan State legit, Saban went on to LSU. He won an SEC title in his second season by upsetting Tennessee in the '01 SEC Championship. Two years later ('03) he raised the BCS National Championship trophy in the Sugar Bowl for LSU.

A year later it was on to the NFL.

When Mal Moore decided it was time to go get his man, he got him.

Now just three years into his Alabama coaching career, the Crimson Tide is No. 1 as the undefeated national champions. As a matter of fact, the Tide have not lost a game in the regular season since losing to Auburn in November of '07.

The turnaround is quite remarkable.

In Shula's final season the Tide went 7-6. In Saban's first season the Tide went 7-6.

In Saban's second season Alabama went 12-0 and lost to a Florida buzzsaw then got caught off-guard against a hungry Utah team.

This year Saban's standing on top of the mountain looking down at everyone else.

To say that is amazing would be the understatement of the century.

Two national championships at two different schools in a combined seven years (Three at 'Bama and four at LSU) is unprecedented. It baffles the mind that a head coach can experience so much success that quickly.

Alabama has always had the pedigree. It just needed the coach.

And what is a coach without players?

Laugh and scoff all you want at recruiting stars. Say that recruiting services like Rivals and Scout are needless since no one knows how a high school kid will turn out.

Then look at Alabama's two straight mythical recruiting championships (The Tide has had Rivals.com's No. 1 recruiting class for two consecutive seasons). Now tell me recruiting is overrated. Now tell me you "cant really tell until a player gets into camp."

(By the way, Alabama is currently No. 2 on that Rivals.com recruiting ranking. Texas is No. 1. Interesting, huh?)

The Tide was at the top of the SEC food chain for years. It got pushed down and languished in the depths of college football purgatory for the better part of a decade- and-a-half. It hired the right coach and got the right players.

Now, here they are again. At the top. A spot that those loyal Alabama fans are more than accustomed to.