5 Reasons Alabama Has No Chance to Repeat as BCS Champions

The Alabama Crimson Tide will not repeat as national champions next season.

Believe it or not, it's incredibly difficult to repeat as BCS National Champions, and Alabama fans should know this better than most.

Just look at the 2010 Alabama team that most could argue was just as talented as the 2009 championship team, and you'll realize just how difficult it is to repeat.

That team lost three games and showed that it was still one of the best teams in the nation when they nearly defeated Auburn with a 24-7 lead at halftime, and beat down Michigan State in the Capitol One Bowl 49-7.

The point being that it's nearly impossible to repeat as national champions in this day and age, and you have to go all the way back to 1995 to find the last team that did it which was the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

While it looks like Nick Saban is building a dynasty in Alabama with two championships in three seasons, the Crimson Tide won't win the 2013 BCS title come next January.

With the SEC West ruling college football and an immensely talented Georgia Bulldogs team rising in the horizon, the Tide won't repeat and here's why.

Lost Players

Even though Nick Saban will fill every hole with special talents, the loss of Dre Kirkpatrick, Mark Barron, Courtney Upshaw and Dont'a Hightower will be too much to overcome.

A Saban-coached football team will be disciplined and smart, and with the way Saban recruits, he'll be able to fill those voids in the defense with talented replacements.

Nonetheless, you have to take in account how talented those players really were. All four of those players could easily be selected in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and they made up the heart and soul of a defense that only allowed 8.2 points per game.

Speaking of heart and soul, Saban is going to have a time replacing a leader like Hightower in the middle because of how great of a leader he was on the field.

And when it comes to replacing a player like Trent Richardson, it'll be difficult to find someone who'll rush for 1,679 yards and 21 touchdowns.

It'll be a tough task for Alabama to fill those voids to say the least.

Tough Schedule

The Tide's biggest challenge in planting their flag at the top of the mountain once again will be their schedule.

Alabama will play Michigan in Cowboy Stadium to kick off the season, and with the way Brady Hoke has the Wolverines on the rise, that will be no easy feat.

Shortly after, the Crimson Tide will get right into SEC action taking on Arkansas in Fayetteville, and it goes without saying how difficult that game will be.

Then the big one comes down the road when they play the LSU Tigers in Tiger Stadium in prime time. Do you know how long those fans at LSU have been waiting for a night game against an SEC opponent? That place will be rocking.

The Crimson Tide will be thrown in the gauntlet this season with an incredibly tough schedule, and should they run the table or lose only one game, they'll deservedly earn their berth in the BCS National Championship Game.

LSU and Arkansas

Even with key losses on defense, the Crimson Tide will still be a powerhouse in the SEC West, but so will LSU and Arkansas.

LSU is returning every key piece on defense besides Ryan Baker, Brandon Taylor, Mo Claiborne and Michael Brockers, while Arkansas brings back the very talented Tyler Wilson, Cobi Hamilton and Knile Davis to an always-surgical offense.

The race in the SEC West has become the thing to keep an eye on in college football, and with those monsters playing against one another, it's not a stretch to think any of those teams could play for a national championship.

In fact on Paul Finebaum's show today, ESPN's Beano Cook picked Arkansas to play against USC in the national championship in 2013.

It's not that hard to slip up when you play great teams all the time, and it'll be tough to come out of Baton Rouge and Fayetteville unscathed.

USC Might Be Too Talented

As big of an SEC fan as I am, it pains me to say USC could very well end "the streak."

The streak I'm referring to is the six straight victories in the national championship, and USC is a buyable threat. If this were a big pay-per-view match that UFC president Dana White was trying to sell, I'd believe the hype behind USC and think they had a chance to take down the champ.

With Matt Barkley returning at quarterback and having talented players on the outside like Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, the Trojans are going to be tough to beat for any SEC team.

And of course, with them being in the PAC-12 rather than the SEC, their road to a national championship will be a lot easier than Alabama's.

Past Attempts Failed

Regardless of how talented a championship team may be, repeating as national champs is a daunting task.

Teams have tried and teams have failed, and the fact that the 1995 Nebraska team was the last team to achieve that goal speaks for itself.

Though the 2010 Alabama team didn't have the likes of Javier Arenas and Terrence Cody, they still had Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson, Julio Jones and Greg McElroy among other great players, and for one reason or another, they didn't repeat.

I remember thinking after they defeated No. 7 Florida 31-6 on CBS that this team could possibly become the greatest team of all time, and then everything began to fade after a loss to South Carolina.

All it takes is a few injuries and few mistakes on the field to turn a season upside down.

By the way, go easy on me for using that picture.