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Just saying they are "special" or were "one of my favorites" is a subjective
thing ill suited for determining where this team really belongs in Alabama
Football History. However, objectively, chew on this because I think it
illustrates just how good this football team really was. Despite
playing one of America's toughest schedules (we played 10 freaking bowl teams,
have we ever played more?), this Alabama finished FIRST in the SEC in Total Offense (first time since 1989)
and..
FIRST in the SEC in Total Defense (first time since 1992) The
most incredible aspect of that startling performance is that only TWO Alabama
teams EVER accomplished that feat in the same season. The awesome 1972 and
1979 teams. Anyway you cut it, we put one damn good football team on
the field this year. Ask Georgia. If you listen closely, you can hear them
already celebrating their SEC Championship. They wouldn't be cheering so
loudly if they had to line up against us next Saturday. Its too tough
to rank this team's place in history due to our ineligibility to compete
for championships. At Alabama, teams are defined by their championships.
However, Post-Bear, if you put our championship teams above the 2002 team
(1989, 1992, 1999), then clearly this team measures up to our other ten-win
or better teams of the time: 1986, 1991,1994 and 1996. The 1994 team lost one game by one point. You have to put them fourth behind the Three Championship Teams. The 1991 team swept both Auburn and Tennessee and only lost once. Maybe you rank them ahead of the 2002 group. So
I think this team ranks alongside, maybe above or maybe below, the 1996 group.
Its kind of tough and we should mention that NONE of the teams enumerated
above led the league in Offense and Defense. So maybe this team ranks ahead
of all of them. Now we have come full circle and are more comfortable
ranking them subjectively, maybe its just best to say that this was a special
team, they were fun to watch, they were very talented and played with a lot
of heart and they did something tougher than "set the bar" for future Alabama
teams. They maintained our 110 year tradition of excellence on the football
field.
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