I've been waiting a few days over 17 years for Thursday night, January 7th.  Every season since '92 has been a dissapointment.

Since '92

In '05 it looked like they were the team to beat, but then the start WR, Tyrone Prothro, got hurt.  Then, Alabama struggled throughout the season, finally losing to both Auburn and LSU, but pulling out a tough win against Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl.

In '06, Mike Shula just collapsed.  Alabama lost their last 4 games of the season to finish 6-7.  Mike Shula: gone.  In '07, Nick Saban replaced Shula and ended up with a 7-6 finish.

Saban finished the regular season undefeated, 12-0, but lost to Florida in the SEC Championship, and amazingly, lost to Utah in the Sugar Bowl.

'09 Season

Cut to this season.  Other than a pretty close season opener to Virginia Tech, they rolled to a  7-0 start.  Tennessee, LSU, and Auburn on the other hand, well, almost spoiled Alabama's eventual championship season.

Thank God for Terrance 'Mount' Cody.  From Alabama not scoring a touchdown, to Mark Ingram losing a fumble for the first time in the year, to a recovered onside kick by TN, they had it rough.  But Mount Cody not only blocked one, but two field goals.  The second being the last second FG try by TN that would have been the game winner.  Then:

LSU was in the game until Jullio Jones caught a screen pass that he took over 70 yards for the touchdown.  Again, close call, but Alabama pulled it out.

Auburn apparently came to play, because they quickly scored 14 straight.  After Alabama scored two td's of their own, Auburn scored another TD to make it 21-14.  Alabama then scored two field goals, and a touchdown with just over a minute left to win 26-21.  The last drive by Auburn was nerve-wrecking, but after clock mis-management by Auburn, Alabama pulled out the final win of the regular season.

Closing out part one of this two-part blog, I've got to say that I loved seeing Tim Tebow cry.  Alabama never was in any position to lose the SEC Championship game, and it set them up to play against the second Heisman candidate QB in two games.  And not to mention, make another Heisman candidate cry.