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Potential might as well be a four letter word to college football fans. Potential might have a connotation of hope, but it also means that things weren't all that great to begin with and will hopefully be better. After several tough years dealing with coaching defections and NCAA sanctions while having to navigate through the treacherous SEC waters, Alabama fans are ready for the turnaround to start now.
This is potentially a good enough team to make some very serious noise in the SEC if there aren't many injuries. The off-the-field issues hurt recruiting and killed the depth, but the starters are good enough to play with anyone on the schedule. Now the team needs a bit of good fortune and a little more time to develop the team into a more complete program..
While Alabama's 4-9 record of last year looked ugly with losses to Northern Illinois and Hawaii, it could've been a whole bunch better as the Tide lost two multi-overtime games to go along with the close defeats to the mid-majors. A few fortunate breaks away from being 8-5, second-year head coach Mike Shula has to hope that there will be a bit more luck this year. Potentially, there will be.
The Schedule: It's not that bad for a program looking to rebuild. With a few breaks, and if Arkansas can't reload, there's a chance the Tide can be 7-0 before facing Tennessee. O.K., so that's a bit optimistic, but there's no reason Bama can't finish with a winning season with this relatively easy slate.
Best Offensive Player: Senior OT Wesley Britt. A serious leg injury cut short an All-SEC season, but he's supposed to be ready to go by the start of the season and needs to be back to 100% to be the star of a good, but not sensational line.
Best Defensive Player: Junior LB DeMeco Ryans. Not a household name in the college football world, Ryans quietly led Alabama with 126 tackles while being a consistent threat to get into the backfield. With more publicity, he'll start getting the recognition he deserves.
Key player to a successful season: Senior OG Danny Martz and junior OG Mark Sanders. The offensive line needs OT Wesley Britt to come back and play at his high level and there's experience with OT Evan Mathis and C J.B. Closner returning, but there's little to no depth at guard. Martz and Sanders have the potential to be strong, and they'll need to be for the offense to go.
The season will be a success if ... It's an eight-win season. This is a good team, but there's not enough talent or depth to win the SEC West with teams like LSU and Auburn still lurking. With a relatively soft first half of the season, eight wins is a reasonable goal.
Key game: Sept. 25 at Arkansas. With all due respect to Ole Miss and Southern Miss, this should be the make-or-break game for the Tide and a splashy start. If the Tide can find a way to win this tough road game, it'll all but ensure a winning record.
2003 Fun Stats:
- Interception return yards: Alabama 12 for 202 yards - Opponents 15 for 37
- First quarter scoring: Opponents 80 - Alabama 63
- Total points: Opponents 333 - Alabama 331
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