If Returning Starters Are So Important, Why Is Alabama Ranked No. 1?

Larry Burton (Panama City Beach, Fl) The picture you see is "Mt. Cody" hoisting the SEC Championship Trophy after the Tide totally embarrassed the Florida Gators in Atlanta last year. That was a team with many returning starters.

This year Alabama has fewer returning starters than any of the SEC teams, yet they are picked to once again win the SEC and also the national championship.

Say what?

I thought a team had to be experienced, that they had to return a ton of starters to have a chance to repeat. What do the pollsters and bookies know that makes this time proven saying mean nothing this year?

Quite simply, they all know that many of the newcomers are people that Tide fans and coaches have been waiting to move into starting jobs. Most come with lots of valuable playing time and others have been red-shirted and schooled for an extra year.

Last year for example, Alabama had massive newcomers on offense including the skilled positions of running back, quarterback, tight end, left tackle, center, and many others. What resulted was a national championship, a Heisman trophy running back, an undefeated college quarterback and an NFL tight end pick.

Some drop off huh?

The same could be said for the players that replace their brothers on the defensive side of the ball this year. Will the results be the same? Only time can tell.

If you simply went by returning starters, Arkansas would win the West and Georgia the East. But I am reminded of the old football joke between two fans of the same school talking about the upcoming season.

One says, "Well Burt, I got some good news and some bad news about this year's team."

And the other guy says, "Well gimmie the good news first, I sure need some."

His buddy replies, "OK, we got 19 starters returning to the team this year."

"That's great!" said the second fellow, "But what's the bad news?"

"There the same sorry SOB's we lost with last year!" said his buddy....

The point the joke makes is that a first year quarterback like Greg McElroy beats the heck out of a returning Jordan Jefferson at LSU. And a first time starter like Mark Ingram sure beats the heck out of an old veteran like Ben Tate and Auburn.

Nick Saban is proving it's not about experience as much as is about coaching them up to their potential and raw talent.

This is the first time in history that I can recall the team with the fewest returning starters being picked to win the SEC. That is quite a testament to to talent level and coaching ability that many feel exists at Alabama right now.

Below is a breakdown of the returning starters in the SEC. The * symbol on the offensive side means they are returning a starting QB, which is usually the most important starter.

SEC

	OFF	DEF	ST	TOTAL
Arkansas	9*	7	2	18
Georgia	10	6	2	18
Mississippi St	7	8	2	17
South Carolina	8*	7	2	17
Auburn	7	8	1	16
Florida	6	7	2	15
Kentucky	5*	7	1	13
Tennessee	4	7	2	13
LSU	6*	4	2	12
Mississippi	4	6	1	11
Vanderbilt	5*	5	1	11
Alabama	8*	2	0	10