The Tide's National Champ hopes

I remember a coach saying something on a radio show a long time ago that has stuck with me.  The interviewer asked him who he thought would win the Big Ten that year and he said something like (not word for word ... it has been a while):

"You can never be sure that some one is going to win but if you want to know the contenders look at a team's quarterback, then the offensive and defensive lines.  If you have veteran leadership in those three areas you will always be a contender.  Most teams have playmakers but they can't do anything without the guys up front.  It is always the teams that get good decisions from the quarterback and control the line of scrimmage that win games and win the league."

The national magazines get hung up on the skill positions but without the guys up front they'd never get the chance.  You can't overcome the losses that Alabama did and not feel the effect the next year.  The idea of "we don't rebuild, we reload" means that your talent level is so far ahead of your competition that you don't need to worry about experienced players.  Ohio State can get away with that using Tresselball in the Big Ten but in the SEC the talent is spread over more teams and one of them will beat the Tide this year.  I wouldn't be surprised if they lost 3 games.