So, the meme going around is that Colt McCoy is a vastly superior QB to Greg McElroy.  That's what I've seen several BON posters hang their BCSMNC hopes on.  I have to ask... based on what?

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I hear a lot from other fanbases that you're off to this job or that job; that you're not to be trusted, that you'll be leaving us like you left the others.  I'm not sure what LSU has to complain about, Les Miles literally did win a national championship with your players - but that's neither here nor there.  No, Coach, I'm not asking you to tell us you love us and you'll be here until we don't want you.  Coaching doesn't work like that any more, really.  Look at Spurrier: I still don't understand why he didn't take the job back here in Gainesville when it opened up, and I'm not sure I believe he's as satisfied there in Columbia as he professes.  

No, Coach, it's that I want to point out to you a few things.  You see, it's really in your best interests to stay here.

I'm not threatening you; we save that for the guys like Bill Curry.  I'm trying to point out that you have a really good thing going here: Alabama is the best coaching job in the country. This year, you have a frickin INCREDIBLE team in all phases, and you get to play an undefeated Texas for a National Championship. Who gets to say that? You just defeated #1 Florida to go to the BCSMNCG - how many other coaches can say that? I mean, it's not just that you're seated at the big table in the poker game, but you've got all the aces. You can recruit in the most fertile areas, Alabama and Florida and Georgia, and at this point your program recruits for itself on a national level.  Why would you want to coach anywhere else?  Where does it get better?  The chicks may be hotter at USC, and the surfing's better... but the competition is here.  Seriously.  If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.  And the best are here in the SEC.  

The recruiting talent around here is just ridiculous, man.  Just in the Gulf Coast area this last couple of years you've gotten Julio Jones, D.J. Fluker, Trent Richardson, Mark Barron, A.J. McCarron, Preston Dial, Brandon Gibson, Mike Johnson, and B.J. Scott - there's four or five All-Americans in that list, you watch. Where else are you going to recruit that's this fertile? And the fanbase loves you. The players love you. They all love the way you coach, they don't care if you aren't running the fun'n'gun. You know you can stay as long as you want... and if you want to pad that coaching resume, if you want to achieve the most you can, you have to put yourself in the position to play in the big games, against the big programs, and armed with the best players.  That happens at Alabama. 

There is no better place for Nick Saban to coach.  Next year, you could be in the BCSMNCG against USC.  Ohio State.  Oklahoma. Oregon. Those are the kinds of games you want on your resume. Alabama gives you the chance to win those games, too.

Well, here we are again, 6-0.  Yawn. 

OK, that was a lie.  There's nothing boring about this team, this record, or this season so far.  We started off this way last year, and it was a GREAT year to be a Bama fan - but this year feels more special.  Last year at 6-0, I was thinking something along the lines of "this is great - I wonder when the other shoe will drop?" and of course there was the doom lurking at the end of the season: Florida.  I live in Gainesville, you see, and I knew this Gator team was something pretty special, too.  I started watching the SECCG with trepidation in my heart, and was more than pleasantly surprised when the 4th quarter opened and Bama had the lead... but that was the end of the season for me.  Tim Tebow is, if anything, UNDER-rated as a QB, as a college player, and most especially and most egregiously as a passer.  He hit Hernandez when I'd have sworn there WAS no place to put it where Hernandez could catch it but no one else.  His passing, and his effort, they were the difference in that game.  I salute you, Tim Tebow.  You earned that 2nd Natty Champ.

But 2008 is long over, and both the Gators and the Tide have to re-tool and reload.  To me, this year feels different.  I'm not here to talk about how last year went, although I needed to paint a background first: I'm here to talk about how Bama is doing this year.  And the news is better in '09 than '08.

So what I'm going to do here is to talk about the games Bama has played this year, the teams they played, and how those teams have done against other opponents.  There's lots of good chewy stuff to talk about, and I guess it's pretty obvious by now that I'm not a sportswriter, so go easy on me.  First up after the jump: Virginia Tech.

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