The Crimson Tide will try to repeat with a team that has an awful lot of talented returning players.

One key player returning is running back Mark Ingram, who won last year’s Heisman Trophy award.

He will try to become only the second player in the history of college football to win the award twice.

Head coach Nick Saban doesn’t want to hear anything about last year’s title, saying this is a completely new season and different team.

Saban said that any agent who is found guilty of conduct with a college player should have his license revoked for a year.

There has been some shady business with college players going out in Miami at a nightclub.

The North Carolina Tar Heels, as well as many SEC schools, are being scrutinized because players may have been in contact with agents.

All of this has seemingly come on the heels of the investigation into former USC star Reggie Bush.

To the victors go the spoils, and when the victors return as many players as defending national champion Alabama, you expect the preseason honors to have a crimson hue to it.

Alabama placed six players on the first team of the All-Southeastern Conference Coaches’ Team, announced Tuesday in advance of SEC Media Days.

The Crimson Tide, which won the SEC and national titles a year ago, landed junior running back Mark Ingram, the defending Heisman Trophy winner, on the team, along with junior wide receiver Julio Jones, sophomore offensive lineman Barrett Jones, junior defensive lineman Marcell Dareus, sophomore linebacker Dont’a Hightower and junior defensive back Mark Barron (a first-team selection last year).

Three more Tide players made the second team: senior quarterback Greg McElory, sophomore running back Trent Richardson and senior offensive lineman James Carpenter.

Florida put the most players on the two teams combined with 10.

—30—

Saban acknowledged how important honest and intregrity is, and that leaving Miami did not go as planned.

He said he was constantly asked about the Alabama job by the media, so he lied to them to keep his Dolphins team sheltered from the distraction.

The coach said he obviously could have found another way to handle the situation and felt bad for misleading the organization.

He also admitted his even bigger mistake of signing quarterback Daunte Culpepper over Drew Brees.

Basketball teams hope to find their stride as February closes and March dawns. The exact opposite has happened to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Tide lost for the fifth time in their past six games on Saturday, and this one hurt: Up by 13 points with just under 12 minutes remaining at Georgia, Alabama fell apart. The Bulldogs outscored the Crimson Tide 37-18 to close the game, taking a 76-70 victory.

Alabama (14-12, 4-8 SEC) shot just 40 percent from the floor while allowing Georgia to shoot 54.7 percent. Mikhail Torrance led the Tide with 20 points.

Alabama needs to turn things around quickly. At one point this season, the Tide was 13-7 overall until hitting the skids. Since blowing out LSU on Jan. 9, Alabama is 3-8.

The Tide finish the regular season with road games Wednesday at Mississippi State and March 3 at South Carolina, and home contests Saturday against Ole Miss and March 6 against state-rival Auburn.

—30—

Alabama took a one-point lead into the locker room, but the second half was a totally different story.

Head coach Anthony Grant was disappointed that his team was unable to take advantage of upsetting a top-ranked opponent.

Grant felt the team had plenty of opportunities to make plays but were simply unable to execute.

The Tide limited Wayne Chism to 11 points, but they all came in the final seven minutes of the game.

The biggest play of the game occurred in the first quarter when Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was hit hard in the right shoulder.

McCoy appeared to be fine at first, but later crumpled on the sideline and did not return to the game.

The Crimson Tide eventually wore down a Texas front seven that slowed them down in the early going.

Alabama had two running backs rush for over 100 yards and each scored two touchdowns. It is the team’s first national title since 1992.

Back to work after the Christmas holidays, the Alabama Crimson Tide are moving closer to their date with destiny.

The Tide resumed workouts Sunday night, practicing under the lights in Tuscaloosa in preparation for the BCS national championship game against Texas, Jan. 7 at Pasadena, Calif.

The SEC champions will work out every day this week, before leaving Alabama on New Year’s Day for the trip west. And while 24 days have passed since the Tide beat Florida in the Georgia Dome in a clash of unbeaten teams to win the conference championship and earn a berth in the national title game, the thrill and anticipation of what’s to come the first week in January hasn’t faded one bit.

The matchup drips with storylines. Two of the top programs in the nation – both combined have won 11 national titles. Two of the top impact players in the game – Alabama running back Mark Ingram won the Heisman Trophy; Texas quarterback Colt McCoy is the winningest quarterback in NCAAA history. Two of the best coaches in the game – both Texas coach Mack Brown and Alabama coach Nick Saban are among the most well-paid coaches in the land, and both have won national titles.

While there will be plenty of focus on the offenses, the Alabama defense may very well hold the key in this one. The Tide held Florida and Tim Tebow to just 13 points in the SEC title game, and stepped up time after time in several close games this season. An effort like that on Jan. 7 could very well pay off in a national championship.

—30—

Shortly after 9 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 12, the BCS National Championship game took a new twist … and Mark Ingram ended a 75-year drought for one of the college football’s most storied programs.

Ingram, the running back who helped thrust the University of Alabama to the Southeastern Conference championship and a berth in the BCS title contest, became the first Crimson Tide player to win the Heisman Trophy, edging Stanford running back Joey Gerhart in the closest vote in history.

In doing so, not only does Ingram engrave his name into college football history, his winning of the award Texas quarterback Colt McCoy figured to win coming into this season gives another slant to the matchup of Ingram’s Tide and McCoy’s Longhorns for the national title.

After Florida’s Tim Tebow and Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford snagged the Heisman the past two seasons, McCoy looked to be the favorite to make it three quarterbacks in a row coming into 2009. And, while McCoy certainly did more than his share of good things in leading the Longhorns to a perfect season, the Big 12 title and a shot at the national championship, Ingram didn’t miss many opportunities to show the voters his value.

Even though the SEC experienced a down year in 2009, many still consider it the hands-down best conference in college football. Throw out a subpar performance against Auburn in the Iron Bowl, and there was no slowing Ingram. In the SEC title game against unbeaten Florida, Ingram’s 113 yards and three touchdowns helped propel Alabama to Pasadena. He started his season with 150 yards and two touchdowns against Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic at the Georgia Dome and never looked back.

The next time he takes the field, Mark Ingram will be a Heisman Trophy winner. But there is no doubting there won’t be a Heisman hangover when the bright lights come on Jan. 7. For while Ingram is the best player in the nation, he and his teammates have a shot at the team honor.

—30—

It seemed like Alabama had been thinking about this game ever since they lost to the Gators in last year’s SEC title game.

The Crimson Tide looked like the stronger, faster and more determined team from the opening kickoff.

They beat Florida in every phase of the game, which was really never in doubt.

The win caps off an undefeated season for Alabama and puts them in the BCS national championship game against the Texas Longhorns.