Wasting a few minutes, drinking a cup of tea and poking around on YouTube, I find a video I'd saved earlier this month.
If you follow college football at all, you probably know that Mark Ingram plays for Alabama. Also, you probably know that the one award that's always been missing from Alabama's storied football history* is the Heisman Trophy, until this year.
It's been a roller coaster ride for Alabama Football these last few years - probation, coaching changes, barely winning seasons, struggling and losing to teams that should have been easy wins (Louisiana Monroe, 2007. I mean really - we're not talking LSU. Louisiana Monroe???)
Were the glory days of National Championships and SEC domination gone for good? Or could Alabama rise from the proverbial - well, not ashes perhaps, but certainly a mudhole.
Just as Alabama fans were wondering if mediocrity and thinking twice about wearing the 'Bama cap were the new normal - a new coach came into the picture. It was 2007, the start of the Saban Era at Alabama.
(factoid: 2007 - A-day game, well over 100,000 fans came to watch, to support the new coach, and to see just what this Saban guy was all about. The stadium was at capicity - over 92,000, standing room only filled, over 20,000 fans unable to get inside the stadium. It had been a while since an Alabama coaching change had that kind of response among the fans.)
The 2007 season ended - well, about average for Alabama football at that time. 7-6, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and fans could feel an upward climb beginning.
2008. Oh, 2008 you were beautiful. Alabama win piled on top of Alabama win, it was a dream beginning and everyone was afraid to wake up. 10 and 0. When was the last time we'd seen that? Of course, the dream season ended abruptly with losses in the SEC Championship Game and the Sugar Bowl, but still. Everyone admitted that 10 and 2 was a record they would have killed to see just a year earlier, but there is something deflating in losing the last two games. Anyway....
2009. The Tide heads to Atlanta against Virginia Tech in the College Football kick-off game. According to the experts, Virginia Tech should win handily. One thing you may notice about Southerners though - they don't always follow instructions! The Tide wins - and then they win - and win - and win - (repeat six more times.)
A miracle win against TN ("Rocky Block" thanks to Terrance "Mount" Cody, #64), a fourth-quarter, come-from-behind win against Auburn, a few stumbles but no falls. Alabama was sitting atop 10 and 0 once again. And once again, headed to the SEC Championship game against Florida.
Florida. Tim Tebow. Urban Meyer. A team, a quarterback, and a coach that have dominated college football over the last four years. Intimidating, right? Um. Sure. I guess.
Alabama walks into Atlanta for the second time that year, with confidence in their step and victory in their eyes. Florida - didn't stand a chance. They played well, but against Alabama on that day, they were outplayed from the first kickoff to the last play when Greg McElroy knelt down to seal the Crimson Tide win. The Tide was heading to the BCS National Championship Game.
Which brings me back around to where I started. Mark Ingram, and the Heisman.
Alabama has had Heisman nominees, but never a winner, until now.
It's a dream season in the making: 11 victories, the 23rd SEC Championship. Award-winners, athletic and academic across the team.
Only one thing left to put the seal on it - the 13th Alabama National Championship.
So, until that January 7th game, I'll leave you with a Roll Tide, and:
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
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