i'd say 09 is the year that BAMA can be dangerous (depends on Star's development too).  but the team is still young this year and has a tough road schedule.  but lets not forget, Saban coached a less talented team (with a below avg qb) to a 7-5 record this year.  and all 5 losses were by 7 pts or less.  i'd say that's good coaching.  and possibly a #1 recruiting class coming in.

but Nico, why would you put SUC at the top of the list (they're questionable at qb.  who knows how good sanchez or mustain will be).  and bammer, don't start comparing teams to SUC and what type caliber team they are.  please don't fall for the media hype for SUC.  they're OVERRATED!  they're a slightly better version of ohio st with slightly better talent.  they play in a weak conference every year (just like osu) and no conference championship.  and don't gimme the argument that SUC plays a tough non-conference schedule.  

let me show you their non-conference schedule from '03 till now:

'03 - auburn, byu, hawaii and notre dame...all unranked.

'04 - va tech, colorado state, byu and notre dame...all unranked except Va Tech.

'05 - hawaii, arkansas, fresno state and notre dame...all unranked except notre dame (who was overrated like they are every year and got pounded by ohio state in a bcs bowl).

'06 - arkansas (ranked but didn't have a healthy mcfadden at the time and their qb in that game was later converted to a wr), nebraska (unranked), and notre dame (ranked but overrated again and got pounded by LSU in a bcs bowl).

and finally '07 - idaho, nebraska and notre dame (all unranked) with a loss to stanford. yes they creamed illinois. so what? they beat a 3 loss big 10 team. wow, that's impressive.

their only impressive win is in '04 over oklahoma in the title game.  and even that's questionable considering OU loses to everybody in a BCS bowl. and yes they beat auburn and arkansas on the road, but it's easy to get up for 1 tough SEC game (especially with all the talent they get out of SoCal).  try 3 in a row.

but every year is the same story.  SUC walks through a cupcake pac-10 (where road games are as hostile as a neutral site) and beats up on a mediocre big 10 team in the rose bowl (including michigan in '03 and '06).  i'll respect them when they play against 3 ranked teams back-to-back-to-back (in a hostile environment like the SEC), in a conference championship and a team not from the big-10 in a bowl game all in the same year. DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE!!!