The Alabama Crimson Tide finished the 2009-10 season perfect. Coach Nick Saban’s team went undefeated in the regular season, culminating in a 37-21 victory over the Texas Longhorns in the BCS National Championship Game. The fans in Tuscaloosa will have two of their leading men back from the 2009 season in quarterback Greg McElroy and running back Mark Ingram. McElroy returns to campus for his senior year with a National Championship ring around his finger, and something to prove before next year’s NFL draft. Ingram is fresh off winning the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore last year, and is expected be one of the best runners in the country once again. The Crimson Tide really, however, won their national championship on the defensive side of the ball. Only Ndamukong Suh and the Nebraska Cornhuskers allowed fewer points per game than Alabama. Add the fact that Saban corralled one of the nation’s best recruiting classes this off season, the Tide should roll over most of its opponents this season. Look for Alabama’s meeting with Penn State the second week of the season to be a good indicator of the team’s BCS potential.

Alabama got into trouble with the NCAA this week. Apparently that some of the players were give free textbooks in violation of the organization’s rules. It’s not clear how this happened, except that the procedures were not properly monitored. But does this make sense? If the rules were not properly followed, you’d think that there would be something clear about that. How do most college students get textbooks? They buy them. Exactly what were they supposed to be monitoring and what part of it allowed “free textbooks for certain people” to become a sin of omission? I don’t really get it.