Alabama Football: The Seven Worst Football Losses in the Last Seven Years

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) The last seven years have seen some ups and downs, and this presentation covers the lowest of the lows.

Starting with the 2004 year under Coach Mike Shula and ending last season, we'll cover the losses that Alabama fans would love to forget.

At the end of the slideshow, you'll have a chance to comment and give me the games you may have included or if you were pulling for the team that beat Alabama, tell why it was such a happy day.

Enjoy.

2004, a Terrible Year with a Terrible Finish

In 2004, Coach Mike Shula was in his second year, and Tide fans had hoped to turn the corner.

They got off to a fast start, but after a 3-0 start, they fell hard to Arkansas and South Carolina, rebounded against Kentucky and then beat a 24th place Southern Mississippi.

With only one more win against Mississippi State, they fell in close games to Tennessee, LSU and Auburn, who were all nationally ranked at 11th, 17th and No. 2 respectively.

As hard as those losses were, they were expected, but in the Music City Bowl, Alabama had a chance to end the season as winners by finishing 7-6 against a Minnesota team.

But as was the frustrating way throughout most of the Shula years, the Tide started off well and just melted down in the second half, scoring only a safety and losing a real heart breaker 16-10 to the Big Ten's Golden Gophers from Minnesota.

2005, Another Late Game Meltdown Broke the Bama Nation's Heart

Alabama had just two losses in 2005. One of those was against Auburn, but since the Tide finished with a better record and ahead of Auburn in the final polls, that loss didn't hurt so bad.

What did was the loss to LSU that went to overtime and should have been won.

Maybe that loss just took the wind out of them when they faced Auburn the next week, but the main thing it did was keep them from playing for another SEC Championship.

The game was oh so close. The total offense figures were nine yards to Bama's benefit, and they won the time of possession as well.  The game was neck and neck and went into overtime, but as was the Tide's history under Shula, they just couldn't close the deal at the end of the game.

That loss just crushed the team and fans that year and was one that be remembered for a long time.

2006, a Whole Year of Disappointments End in Even More Frustration

After the 10-win season in 2005, the sanctions on Alabama and the recruiting and scholarship reductions had really hit.

Except for wins over Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, the whole SEC seemed to delight in beating up on the depleted Alabama team. Clearly, every SEC team wanted to get their licks in while they could, and that is just how the season went.

Still, going into the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., the Tide had a chance to at least end the season on a winning note and a winning record by defeating Oklahoma State. It would also hold up some pride by helping the SEC with their postseason bowl count.

With 10 minutes left in the game, Javier Arenas did what he would do so many more times in his Alabama career, take a punt to the house to get them within seven points. Then with just over eight minutes to go Alabama drove for a game-tying touchdown when Andre Smith, an offensive tackle, in a very rare appearance as a running back, took the ball the final two yards.

A Jamie Christensen PAT tied the score.

But like so many times in the Shula era, the team just wasn't conditioned to finish a game, and Oklahoma drove down and kicked the game winning field goal with eight seconds remaining to drive a stake in the Bama fans' hearts and leave the team with a 6-7 losing record.

2007, a New Coach but Some Old Problems Still Remain

2007 came with wild expectations after landing perhaps the hottest coach in football, Nick Saban, but it took a whole painful season to weed out the players who weren't buying into to the new coach's philosophies and processes.

No one loss hurt as much as a game that the team lost to a virtual nobody, a team that even though the Tide was playing at less than full strength, was supposed to walk over.

But they lost.

And the team they lost to was Louisiana Monroe, a team that shouldn't have been able to beat any SEC team, much less the Crimson Tide.

Alabama fans expected a rough first year for Saban, nobody expected the Tide to lose this seemingly "gimme" game against a directional school from Louisiana.

It was thoroughly embarrassing and may be the worst loss in Saban's history.

2008 and the Tide Finally Rises for Both Saban and the Tide

People knew that it was not a question of if, but when, for Nick Saban to turn things around with Alabama, but nobody predicted that he would have a perfect season and be just two games from a BCS Championship Game in just his second year, but that is just what had happened.

The Tide was leading going into the fourth quarter of the SEC Championship Game and looked like the team that would play for the BCS crystal ball, but Tim Tebow put the Gators on his back and orchestrated two late-scoring drives to defeat Alabama and destroy their national title hopes.

It was a dagger in the heart of all Alabama fans.

2009 Saw No Defeats, but 2010 Had Some That Hurt

The first of 2010 heartbreakers was the very first loss of the season to South Carolina.

Why?

The fanbase of the Crimson Tide never fully grasped the losses from the national championship team and thought the team had enough talent to overcome the losses.

Alabama had the talent, just not the experience and South Carolina simply showed the Tide that any chance of a repeat was just empty hope when they handed them a hard 35-21 loss.

South Carolina exposed that the Alabama defense could be ripped, and it came as quite as shock to the Tide fans that anyone, much less a team not known as an SEC powerhouse, could do that to them.

It was a sobering game to everyone who wore Crimson, athletes and fans alike.

The Second 2010 Heartbreaker

There are posters around the training rooms in Tuscaloosa that say, "Never Again." That refers to the 2010 Auburn game where the Tide jumped out to a 24-0 lead and then lost, 28-27.

Though it was clear that Alabama would not repeat as champions, a win here would keep the cross-state rivals from having a shot at it themselves.

It was a game where Auburn followed Nick Saban's main edict better than his own team. That edict is "Finish."

The complete second-half meltdown was embarrassing to the team, and the fans and will forever go down in the history of the Iron Bowl as the one with the biggest swing in fortunes.

And That's It!

Larry Burton is a Syndicated Writer whose work appears on the Internet and in print. If you'd like to keep up with all his articles, follow him on Twitter and sign up as a fan on his Bio Page.

Please feel free to sign up on Bleacher Report for free and comment below on any teams you think I've omitted as one of the seven most important wins over the last seven years, or simply comment on your own thoughts.

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