4 Reasons Alabama Will Struggle to Repeat as BCS Champions

Nick Saban just won his second BCS National Championship as the head coach at the University of Alabama, but 2012 will present many obstacles that will make the Crimson Tide struggle to repeat as champions.

Throughout its history, the BCS has never had a back-to-back winner, and that trend will continue in 2012.

Alabama will still have a strong team, but here are four reasons why the Crimson Tide will not replicate their magical 2011 with another crystal ball.

Loss of Key Defensive Players

The nucleus of Alabama's top-ranked scoring defense is headed to the NFL draft, where three or four players could be taken in the first round.

Safety Mark Barron, cornerback DaQuan Menzie and linebacker Courtney Upshaw were set to graduate and move on from Alabama anyways, but when cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and linebacker Dont'a Hightower also declared for the draft, even more holes opened up for Nick Saban to fill.

Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, excellent recruiting classes will speed up the recovery process.

A unit soon to be led by five-star safety Landon Collins and five-star defensive back Hasean Clinton-Dix has the potential to be just as strong as the one fielded in 2011, but it will take at least one year for a young and inexperienced defense to get the team back to championship status.  

For now, however, Alabama fans will have to be satisfied with the "dark horse" label.

Loss of Trent Richardson

Running back Trent Richardson joined the exodus of defenders leaving and declared for the NFL draft as well, despite having another year of eligibility remaining.

Now the Crimson Tide will be without their primary offensive weapon.

The good news is they have Eddie Lacy ready to come out of the gates and replace him.

It's undeniable that losing Richardson hurts, but the Crimson Tide have a lot of players that can make people forget about his departure quickly. In addition to Lacy, Alabama will have quarterback A.J. McCarron back for his second year, as well as a couple of highly-touted wide receivers in Eddie Williams and Chris Black catching passes in the air attack.

It's almost unfair how quickly Alabama can replace its top talents, but once again, the issue will come down to experience. The Crimson Tide will be very young on both sides of the ball, and that lack of experience heading into 2012 could cost them in big games next season.

Strength of SEC

What will hurt Alabama more than anything next season will be their conference schedule.

Key games against LSU and Arkansas will be played on the road, and if the Tide do make it through the SEC West unscathed, they will likely face a very strong Georgia team in the SEC championship game.

There simply isn't much good news to look at here. Just like Alabama reloads with recruiting talent each year, the SEC reloads with great teams looking to take down the previous season's champions.

LSU will be without its top cornerback in Morris Claiborne, but Heisman finalist Tyrann Mathieu will be back, along with a number of other starters. Transfer quarterback Zach Mettenberger is expected to play at least as well as Jordan Jefferson, if not better.

Arkansas is losing a lot of its talent at the wide receiver position, but quarterback Tyler Wilson is coming back, and that alone makes the Razorbacks contenders in the SEC.

Rounding out the Alabama schedule are home games against Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Auburn, with away games at Missouri and Tennessee.

Finally, make note of the season-opening contest against the University of Michigan that will be held at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The high-powered Wolverine offense, led by Denard Robinson, will be an early test for an Alabama defense full of new faces.

Strength of Other National Championship Contenders

The SEC has been the dominant conference for six the past six years, but there are a few schools across the country hoping to end the SEC's run of six consecutive BCS National Championships.

That does not bode well for Alabama.

Quarterback Matt Barkley is returning to USC for his senior season and is poised to lead the Trojans on a title run for the first time since NCAA sanctions were imposed on the program as a result of the Reggie Bush scandal.

The Oklahoma Sooners will have Landry Jones under center for another year, and after failing to live up to last year's preseason No. 1 ranking, you can bet that Sooner Nation feels like they have some unfinished business to attend to.

If Alabama is fortunate enough to make it to the BCS title game, odds are they will likely enter as the top-ranked team in the country. Their strength of schedule will be hard for voters and computers to miss.

But look out for the second ranked team. Every conference in America has it out for the SEC, and 2012 may be the year that the crystal ball finally moves on to another region of the United States.

Alabama still has a lot of talent on their roster returning for next season, but 2012 should be a mighty struggle for the Tide to repeat as national champions.

There are just too many obstacles that need to be conquered to get back to the title game, but then again, Nick Saban is good at conquering obstacles.

And if we have learned anything, we should never count out Nick Saban.