When Alabama won three of its first five games and came awfully close in losses to nationally ranked UCLA and South Carolina, it was easy to think that this was a team on the brink of success.
Instead, maybe the message of this year is that Alabama still has a lot of improvement to make before it will show in the record. For all the good things we thought we saw in the first eight games, Alabama still is 3-5, which is the same record it had at the same time last year.
The Crimson Tide needs more talent -- and fast. Dennis Franchione and his assistants must prove themselves as recruiters.
Also, Franchione still has plenty of work to do repairing the fragile mental state of his players. Going through the firing of their coach last year and the gloom of an NCAA investigation has drained them.
It's going to take time to fix this mess. We thought that if Alabama simply got rid of DuBose and his assistants and brought in a new staff, that would be good for at least a 6-5 year. But it's not that easy.
Franchione said when he took this job in December that it would take time. Back then, it looked like he simply was buying time to keep the fan base off his back.
Instead, maybe he was right. Alabama still has so much left to do.
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