Ten Reasons Why Alabama's November Will Be Different This Year

Here we are Bama fans, facing another November.  Since 2005, November has not been kind to our team.  We have lost nine straight, including the La. Monroe nightmare and two straight to Miss. State.  I don't even have to remind you of the three losses to LSU and Auburn.

So why do Bama fans not have to chew off their fingernails and wring their hands in nervous anticipation of another November?  Let's look at the top 10 reasons, in no particular order, that you can start relaxing.

1. John Parker Wilson

Despite having some off days, he has done nothing to cause a loss and has in fact stepped up and played like a senior QB should.  When Tennessee busted his chin, he simply taped it up and burned them on some sharp passes and led by example.  He has learned to step up his game and not commit errors.  Remind anyone of Jay Barker?

2. Mount Cody

While his stats aren't the most impressive, perhaps his biggest achievement is making this defense believe that no one is going to make that 4th-and-1 against them.  He was the key in making everyone believe they could be great.  Without him in the lineup, that belief continued without missing a beat against Tennessee.

3. Julio Jones

Alabama started the season lamenting the fact that we had a huge question mark on our receiving corps.  Julio Jones has proven to be this year's D.J. Hall and comes through in the clutch.  The rest of the corps simply does not drop balls and makes plays.

4. The offensive line

This year it hasn't been a shuffled lineup.  We have perhaps one of the best offensive lines in college football, period.  Each game is a statement game for these men.  For the first time in many years, Alabama owns the line of scrimmage.

5. Dont'a Hightower

He has helped answer the linebacking corps question mark with a big exclamation mark.  With just over the season behind him, he is now playing like a veteran and actually led the team in tackles last week against the Vols.

6. Nick Walker

Saban said at the first of the year he wanted to involve the tight ends more in the passing game, and Walker has certainly proved it was a good idea.  His clutch catches may get the highlights, but he has been a good blocker as well.  He is a nice surprise for this team.

7. Injuries

They have crippled the Tide in past Novembers.  This year they are all healthy and ready to start to November run at full strength.  Only Cody is a slight question mark, but they are simply letting him return to 100 percent before the LSU game.  If he had his way, he'd start the next game.

8. Interchangeable running backs

In past years we didn't have the depth we do now.  Injuries really crippled our running game.  Glen Coffee has proven to be a workhorse, but we have seemingly not missed a beat when substituting Ingram or Upchurch.

9. Expectation level

For the past few years Alabama went into November for respect.  This year much more is expected now that they've gotten off to this start.  For all the fans anything less than an SEC Championship game matchup would be a nightmare.  For some, anything less than a National Championship would be disappointing.

But it's not the fans' expectation levels I should be talking about—it's the players'.  They fully believe and expect greatness out of themselves for the first time in a long time.

10. All the question marks have been replaced by exclamation marks

As previously mentioned individually, all the questions we had at the first of the year have been answered.

Would Arenas be able to go full time in the secondary?  Could Wilson quit giving games away?  Could this receiving corps do anything with all the graduation losses we had?  Would this new defensive line be able to compete?  How can we have decent linebackers without Prince Hall?

Really, the only question left to answer is, can the Tide sustain their impressive start and go all the way?  The answer will be worth watching to find out.