Alabama's Daunting 2010 Schedule: Much Ado About Nothing?

Looking Forward: Nick Saban and the 2010 Alabama Campaign

Alabama will open their schedule with two home games. The opener is a warm-up against San Jose State. They have a new head coach, Mike MacIntyre, the 2009 AFCA Football Bowl Subdivision Assistant Coach of the Year.

MacIntyre is no stranger to the SEC. He played two years for the Vanderbilt Commodores ('84-'85), under the tutelage of his father, head coach George MacIntyre. He finished his career at Georgia Tech ('87-'88), coached by Bobby Ross.

The San Jose State Spartans won only two games in the entire 2009 season. While great things are expected from the hire of Mike MacIntyre, opening the season with a win against Alabama is unlikely.

The Spartans will be an appetizer for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and a lead into the highly anticipated Week Two matchup against the Penn State Nittany Lions.

The 2009 Penn State team finished the regular season 10-2. Losses came in Week Four against the Iowa Hawkeyes and in Week 10 to the Big-10 Conference Champion and eventual Rose Bowl Champion, the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Interestingly, the Nittany Lions ended the season with a win in the Capital One Bowl against the sluggish LSU Tigers.

Penn State finished No. 9 in the USA Coaches Poll. The AP ranked Penn State No. 8 at season's end. The Nittany Lions offense lost seven starters, including QB Darryl Clark, and TE Mickey Schuler. While they have depth at the tight end position, the loss of Schuler will be felt in terms of production.

Paterno will need to replace two offensive linemen and both starting wide receivers as well. On defense, the matriculation is just the same—seven losses to graduation. Defensive end Jack Crawford is the lone returner of the starting front seven.

While the returners are experienced, many are first-year lettermen. In addition, the defensive line depth is a major concern for the 2010 team.

Linebackers Chris Colasanti and Bani Gbadyu are three-year varsity lettermen, while Sean Lee is a two-year letterman.

The Tide should be favored by a wide margin in the Week Two contest. Penn State is a preseason Top-15 team. In fact, they are No. 15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, and No. 14 in all others.

They will contend for the Big Ten title in what may likely turn out to be the last season for legendary coach Joe Paterno.

The PSU offense will be led by an inexperienced quarterback, and the burden will be placed on Evan Royster to carry the load.

He will either be first in line for the Heisman after Week Two or will be stuck in the trainers room in much need of sitz baths and pain relievers.

Simply having JoePa on the sidelines will make this a classic matchup and one highly anticipated for Coach Saban and the Alabama football program.

A win against a storied program such as Penn State in Week Two will firmly establish the 2010 Crimson Tide in the top position of all college football polls.

Week Three is a road trip to Durham, N.C. The most that the Duke Blue Devils can hope for is that the Tide receive a citation for speeding through Wallace Wade Stadium, home of the 1942 Rose Bowl.

That's right, I said Wallace Wade Stadium, the same Wallace Wade whose statue is firmly planted in the "Walk of Champions."

Wade left the hallowed grounds of Tuscaloosa to coach the Duke Blue Devils in 1930, after winning his third national championship while coaching the Crimson Tide.

If Alabama should lose to Penn State in Week Two, expect a blowout. If they arrive in Durham 2-0, they will probably only win by 40. All fun aside, David Cutcliff is making Durham his home and is very familiar with the SEC.

He will have his team prepared to play a competitive game. The Blue Devils may have some surprises in the first half but the Crimson Tide will be too much from the third quarter and beyond.

Week Four will have Alabama traveling to Fayetteville, Ark., to face the Liberty Bowl Champion Arkansas Razorbacks. The pro-style offense of the Razorbacks will be in high gear for this matchup. It is the most highly anticipated SEC matchup in the West.

Quarterback Ryan Mallett will be intent on sending a message to NFL scouts that he can perform well against a Nick Saban-coached 3-4 defense. Guns will be a blazin'.  Land mines will be all over the field in Reynolds-Razorback Stadium.

The young Alabama secondary must get up to speed by this point in the season. It will be up to the Alabama offense to control the tempo or risk getting into a shootout with the Arkansas offense, much like the 2009 Georgia-Arkansas game.

This may very well be a game that the running game takes over and grinds out yard after yard to wear down the opposition defense.

No team on the early part of the 2010 schedule will prepare the Tide's secondary for the air attack that will ensue.

The Razorbacks clearly have the most superior, experienced receiving corps in the SEC and possibly in the country. They will have something to prove and must win this game to make a statement.

If Alabama gets behind, expect McElwain to open up the playbook and unleash all hell with the weapons he has available at wideout.

Three and four wideout sets, H-back, motion, wildcat formations and everything else you can think of will be pulled out of the bag. This game is a must win, as it is every year.

Alabama must survive this game, or they will not win the Western Division, much less return as SEC Champions. Mark this date on your calendar. (Sept. 25)

Following the road trip to Fayetteville, the Crimson Tide will play Florida in Tuscaloosa, head back on the road to Columbia, S.C., return again to Bryant-Denny to face Ole Miss, and then travel to Neyland Stadium for a confrontation with the Tennessee Volunteers.

UF players have already circled the re-match with the Crimson Tide on their calendar and have it posted in the Gator locker room. This is a statement game, if there ever was one, particularly if both teams are undefeated when the confrontation occurs.

Meyer's Gators have lost one regular season game in the past two years. Saban and the Tide have not lost a regular season game in their last two campaigns. Someone will end the day with a loss, there is no way out.

The first half of the 2010 schedule is incredibly tough for the Crimson Tide. There is no bye in the schedule until after Week Eight. It will be a test of endurance and will require depth on both sides of the ball to survive unscathed.

Meanwhile, the opponents of the Crimson Tide will be coming off bye weeks in nearly every contest. It will be a remarkable feat for the Crimson Tide to return to Tuscaloosa on Oct. 24, 2010 without a blemish on their record.

Losses are anticipated by many prognosticators. But losses are not a given, and if there is a team in the SEC that can survive this gauntlet, it is the Alabama Crimson Tide.

If the Tide returns to Tuscaloosa 8-0, it will mark the best season of coaching ever, bar none, for head coach Nick Saban and his staff.

Defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and OC Jim McElwain have their work cut out in 2010. Quarterback Greg McElroy will put his unblemished record on the line. They will not go down without a fight.

And during Week Nine, Saban and his warriors will get a much needed rest. 

Week 10 puts the Crimson Tide in Baton Rouge. Without a doubt, this game will be nationally televised and highly anticipated. Having two weeks to prepare, Saban will have his team ready to play the LSU Tigers.

If the Tide record contains a blemish at this point in the year, the win at Death Valley will put them back on track in the national picture.

This game will not be close. LSU, while studded with talent on both sides of the ball, just doesn't have the coaching staff to prepare for this matchup. They will simply be out-coached, out scored, and out classed.

Finally, the Tide will hit the home stretch with a three-game stand at Bryant-Denny. Mississippi State and Georgia State will assist in preparing the Men in Crimson for the season finale against the in-state rival Auburn Tigers. Without doubt, this will be the toughest game of the long season.

The 2010 Crimson Tide will be expected to repeat as SEC Champions. Once you lay out what is ahead for this group of young men, you will quickly realize how difficult the task will be for the Tide to simply win the Western Division.

The winner of the West will be the front-runner for the SEC Championship, without question.

Meanwhile, what happens outside the confines of the SEC will mold the national picture and determine final season rankings.

It is very likely that at the end of the regular season, the No. 1-ranked team in the country will have one or two losses. If that is true, Alabama will contend for a repeat national championship.

An undefeated season is for dreamers. There is nothing wrong with dreaming, but our coach is a realist. A reasonable expectation is for a one-loss season, while a realistic expectation is that the Crimson Tide will lose two games in 2010.

Without a doubt, Saban will inspire his team to achieve a third perfect regular season, and to repeat as SEC Champions. While the task is not easy, in fact, has never been accomplished, its time to set the new bar.

Alabama has the personnel. Only time will tell. Saban is putting a chip on the shoulder of every individual on this team, and he will dare any opposition player on the 2010 schedule to try and knock it off. Each game is about individual battles at every position on the field.

He will have the Tide prepared; expectations are at an all-time high. As each game unfolds and a new tapestry is sewn together, the great tradition that is known as Alabama Football will log in another chapter.

May God in heaven bless these men and prepare them for an incredibly tough campaign.