#6 Alabama Crimson Tide: College Football 77 in 77

welcome to The Sports Bank 77 in 77. We’re previewing one team a day everyday as the college football season approaches. And we’re doing it in rapid fire sequence. Today, the Alabama Crimson Tide

2011 was: a national title banner year, they were #1 in the preseason 77 in 77 and #1 when it counted and they were the last team standing

2012 will go smoothly if: the defense simply reloads and rebuilds as it returns just 4 starters. The D was #1 overall nationally in all the major categories. Nico Johnson and Robert Lester are the names you’re familiar with, the rest are in the NFL now. Also the OL returns pretty much in tact.

2012 will be rough if: new receivers, new tailback, new starters all over the defense- plenty of question. But this is ‘Bama, where the new guys stepping up are all top recruits. Eddie Lacy will be a good next man in for Trent Richardson

BMOC: all the dudes I mentioned plus the rest of the secondary, Outland Trophy winner and OT Barrett Jones, QB AJ McCarron who has to be the man now, no more game managing, Kenny Bell

All Name team: SS Haha Clinton-Dix, ILB Trey DePriest, LG Chance Warmack

Bottom Line: 10-11 wins looks likely. They might be deserving of more, but it all depends on if they stay healthy at the positions where they have little depth. This year is a rebuilding year. But another SEC title game could happen

All the 77s

#7 Michigan

#8 South Carolina

#9 Florida

#10 Arkansas

#11 West Virginia

#12 Georgia

#13 Clemson

#14 Wisconsin

#15 Virginia Tech

#16 TCU

#17 Nebraska

#18 Boise State

#19 Oklahoma State

#20 Ohio State

#21 Texas

#22 Texas A&M

#23 Michigan State

#24 Louisville

#25 Stanford

#31 Virginia

#32 Notre Dame

#33 NC State

#34 Iowa

#35 BYU

#36 UCF

#37 Washington

#38 Tennessee

#39 Rutgers

#40 Penn State

#45 Mississippi State

#46 North Carolina

#47 Northwestern

#48 Miami, FL

#49 California

#50 SMU

#51 South Florida

#52 UConn

#53 UCLA

#54 Illinois

#55 Vanderbilt

#56 Washington St.

#59 Purdue

#62 Arizona State

#63 Boston College

#64 Ohio

#65 Marshall

#66 Arizona

#67 Southern Miss

#72 Colorado

#73 Kansas

#74 Maryland

#75 Duke

#76 Minnesota

#77 Indiana

Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, Walter Football and Yardbarker

A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too