Can Alabama Handle a Loss Prior to a National Championship Game?

Has Alabama drank too much Kool-Aid to accept anything less than a National Championship showdown?  After all, this was supposed to be the year that Saban improved the team to, say, a nicer bowl.  Next year was the anticipated return to prominence.

But at 9-0, with the college football world looking on, the question must be asked: Can the Tide handle a loss prior to a championship game?  Can they deal with that disappointment and still rebound?  These are the questions no member of the Bama nation hopes to have to answer.

Recently Saban said, "There's not a guy on this team that has been in this spot before.  They've had a lot of disappointments and grown from it.  You never know how players will handle success."

Quite true.  There's not a man on this team that's beaten Auburn, and few have beaten Mississippi State, in fact.  Each game they play from now on breaks a new personal record for every man on the squad.  The team is on such an emotional high right now there is no way to predict what a loss could do to the team's psyche. 

Rashad Johnson sums it up: "Last year we lost games we shouldn't have.  That won't happen this year.  If we lose, it's going to be because we played a better team." He adds, "Every senior wants to leave the team better than he found it—this year we can." 

But most players will not even discuss the prospect of losing.  John Parker Wilson quoted to me once, "If you look for a way to lose, you may find it.  Coach Saban preaches finding ways to win." 

This is a team that doesn't go long between good and bad seasons.  Just a few seasons ago, Mike Shula led them to a 10-win season.  Then they fell again. 

Saban has told his players, "You always heard that every man gets knocked down, and you judge a man by what he does once he's on his back.  Well, that's only part of the truth.  You can tell a lot more about a man when he's on top.  What he does when he's there speaks louder."

With Alabama's juggernaut offensive line having the possibility of being taken away next year, as well as the steady play of John Parker Wilson, this may in fact be the Tide's best chance to win it all again and add that 13th trophy to its mantle.

Center Antoine Caldwell speaks for the players when he says, "We did not set a goal to win an SEC or a National Championship.  We set a goal to play 100 percent to the best of our ability, win every game, and let the rest fall wherever it does." 

If he does in fact speak for the rest of the team, then this will be a team that could handle a loss.  But if they do in fact live by that credo, then they may not have to find out.