701 Days. That's All It Took.

Processed (v.)- The act of Nick Saban destroying your coaching career to the point that you are no longer with your team.

As stated in the title, it has only been 701 days since Nick Saban was hired to take over the Alabama Crimson Tide.

That's all it has taken for Saban not only to turn the Tide, but to take back the state, to make his presence known once again in the SEC, and to get Alabama back in the national spotlight.

So how has everyone gotten here over the past 23 months? Here is a quick timeline to refresh your memory.

• Jan. 3rd, 2007: Nick Saban is hired as the 26th head football coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. In his opening press conference the following day, Saban said, "I know there's tremendous expectations here. I can tell you that, however you feel about it, I have even higher expectations for what we want to accomplish. I want to win every game we play."
• Feb. 7th, 2007: Saban signs a recruiting class that has his partial stamp on it. Kareem Jackson and Rolando McClain are the two stars of the class which is ranked 10th by Rivals.com.
• Apr. 21st, 2007: Over 100,000 people crowded Tuscaloosa to watch Nick Saban's team scrimmage in the annual A-Day Game. Fans were turned away at the gate as the largest crowd to ever watch a spring game assembled at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
• Sept. 1st, 2007: Nick Saban makes his debut as the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide in a rout of Western Carolina 52-6. The win was Saban's first college win since 2004.
• Sept. 15, 2007: Nick Saban gets his first SEC win at Alabama with a come from behind win against Arkansas 41-38. It was Alabama's first come from behind win in since the Dennis Franchonie era.
• Oct. 20, 2007: The Crimson Tide destroy the Tennessee Volunteers 41-17 in Tuscaloosa to reach 6-2 in Saban's first season. Alabama will enter November tied for first in the SEC West heading into Saban's first game against LSU.
• Nov. 3rd, 2007: LSU comes into Tuscaloosa and comes out with a win 41-34 over Alabama, sending the Crimson Tide into a tailspin to finish their season. Alabama would lose in consecutive weeks to Mississippi State, Louisiana-Monroe, and a sixth straight to Auburn. Alabama finishes the season 6-6, 3-5 in the SEC.
• Dec. 30, 2007: Alabama finishes their season in the Independence Bowl for the second straight season, beating Colorado 30-24. Alabama ends the season 7-6, only the second winning season over the previous five years for the Crimson Tide.
• Jan. 30th, 2008: Jim McElwain is hired by Nick Saban to be Alabama's new offensive coordinator. McElwain leaves Fresno State and simplifies Alabama's offense to avoid confusion for John Parker Wilson and company.
• Feb. 6th, 2008: Alabama puts the finishing touches on the consensus No. 1 recruiting class in the nation. Final 48 hour commitments from Mark Ingram and Julio Jones helped to propel the Tide above Notre Dame, Florida, and Ohio State.
• Apr. 12, 2008: Nick Saban's second A-Day Game doesn't sell out, but 72,000 people still come to watch the Crimson Tide practice. The new offense does just enough to get fans interested as to how this team may play this season.
• June 2008: The new freshman class reports to campus for the first time. Combined with a new senior leadership, the freshmen help the team find a new level to practice at, bringing intense competition to each practice.
• Aug. 30th, 2008: Nick Saban's second team hits the turf in the Georgia Dome against Clemson and blows out the Tigers, 34-10. Alabama jumps into the Top 25 while Clemson never fully recovers from their opening game beat down.
• Sept. 27th, 2008: Alabama takes their show on the road to Athens with an undefeated record for a Top 10 match up. The Crimson Tide runs away in the first half on national television en route to a 41-30 victory over the Bulldogs. Alabama vaults to a number two ranking, the highest since 2005.
• Oct. 13th, 2008: Tommy Bowden resigns at Clemson after a dismal start to what was thought to be an ACC championship season.
• Oct. 25th, 2008: Alabama goes into Neyland Stadium and overpowers the Vols, 29-9, to take the second straight game from Tennessee and Phil Fulmer to reach 8-0, the best start for a Nick Saban team. A week later, Phil Fulmer would resign as head coach, effective at the end of the season.
• Nov. 8th, 2008: Alabama reaches 10-0 after a wild, overtime win in Tiger Stadium against LSU, ending a November losing streak in the SEC dating back to 2005. The win was also the first against the Bayou Bengals since 2002.
• Nov. 29th, 2008: Alabama ends a six year skid against the Auburn Tigers with a 36-0 thrashing, ending Auburn's chances for a bowl. The win cemented Alabama's first undefeated regular season since 1994, the first 12-0 regular season in SEC history, and Nick Saban's first undefeated regular season of his career. The loss, the worst for Auburn since 1962, left doubt about Tommy Tuberville's job security.
• Dec. 3rd, 2008: Tommy Tuberville resigns as head coach of the Auburn Tigers.

Those are the important points which bring us to today's events. It is only a matter of time before we see what this means for both Alabama and Auburn. In the meantime, Alabama has a championship to play for.

SEC Pass or Fail, Week Ten...and Links!!!

So, another week, and another installment of SEC Pass or Fail here at ITNOT.

This week in the SEC saw another big match up turn into a big blow out, some stellar defensive efforts, and some just horrid individual and team play. Out of all of that, here is what stood out.

Head of the Class: Alabama's Defense

Sure, Alabama was playing Arkansas State this week, but this was a team who has a win against a BCS team this season and scored 83 points in a game. All Alabama did was shut them out and hold them to 158 total yards.

In their last four games, the Crimson Tide defense has only allowed four offensive touchdowns and has yet to allow a 100-yard rusher so far this season. On top of this, the defense has four touchdowns of their own this season and will face their last tough road challenge of the regular season this weekend against Charles Scott and the LSU Tigers.

Pass: Florida's Tim Tebow

After the Gators lost to Ole Miss at home, many people were wondering what happened to Heisman winner Tim Tebow. Four games later, it's safe to say "Superman" has found his stride once again.

Since the Ole Miss game, Tebow is 52/75 with eight passing touchdowns to just two interceptions. He has also ran for six touchdowns in those games. He has led the Gators to three straight games of 40 points or more for the first time since the Spurrier era, and managed to set the school record for career rushing touchdowns (39), surpassing Emmitt Smith in the process.

Fail: Georgia

The Bulldogs were the pre-season number one team in the country, the national title pick by Lindy's pre-season magazine, and were suppose to have two Heisman candidates in Knowshon Moreno and Matthew Stafford. Instead, the Bulldogs have fallen flat in their two biggest games this season.

Between games against Alabama and Florida, the Bulldogs have given up 90 points to those two teams in two losses. Both losses have managed to propel the opposing team into the national spotlight, while Georgia falls further away from where most people saw them at the beginning of the season. The Bulldogs are now playing for a spot in a New Year's Day Bowl instead of any sort of championship.

Pass: South Carolina's Defense

The Gamecocks started the season at 1-2 and were looking at an entire season like the way last year ended. Instead, the Gamecocks are now bowl eligible and it is due in large part to their defense.

South Carolina is only giving up an average of 15 points per game and have the best, and most underrated, defense in the SEC this season. USC has managed to do this while also having the worst turnover differential in the conference at -7. I thought Lou Holtz was crazy when he called the Gamecocks the best defense in the SEC earlier this season during halftime of a game they would lose, but they have made Lou look like a he knew what he was talking about for once.

Fail: Mississippi State

The Bulldogs had a great season last year and were looking to build on that success this season. Turns out that Mississippi State is Mississippi State once again.

Wesley Carroll was all about winning an SEC championship this season at SEC Media Days, but that focus has now shifted to just winning an SEC game. The Bulldogs have won one conference game all season and have blown chances against Auburn and Kentucky this season. State must win their final three games to even be considered for a bowl, but they must go on the road to Tuscaloosa and Oxford for two of those final three games. The only problem is State is win-less this season on the road.

Pass: Ole Miss

Ole Miss won three SEC games during the three year career of Ed Orgeron and won three games each season under Coach O. The Rebels have three SEC wins this season alone after last weekend's win over Auburn.

The Rebels are one win away from their first bowl since Eli Manning and company took down Oklahoma State 31-28 in the 2003 Cotton Bowl, and they have two very good chances to get that sixth win. The Rebels finish with two of their final three at home against Louisiana-Monroe and then the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Houston Nutt has things going in the right direction in Oxford and has the players to be making some noise soon.

Fail: Three Interception Quarterbacks

Interceptions are never the way to win a football game for your team. Multiple interceptions is just an easy way to spell "loss," and that's exactly what Georgia and Auburn did when their quarterbacks threw three interceptions each.

Kodi Burns and Matthew Stafford managed to complete three passes to teams in the wrong color jersey this past Saturday. Burns' interceptions all came in the second half and directly led to Ole Miss' final touchdown in a 17-7 Rebel victory. Auburn finished the game on Ole Miss' 25-yard line which would have been prime for a game-tying field goal. Stafford's blunders (which also included a fumble) also all came in the second half and led to two Florida touchdowns on the very next play after the interception as the Gators embarrassed the Bulldogs 49-10. It's pretty safe to say that three interceptions are not the way to win a ball game.

Epic Fail: Tennessee

The daisy orange and white have looked horrid this season, and it all came to a culmination after two straight losses to familiar foes.

Tennessee is currently sitting at 3-6 after back-to-back losses to Alabama and Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks. The Vols have only managed 15 points in their last two games and had finally had enough to let Phil Fulmer go on Monday. The Vols will have a new general on the sideline next season for the first time in 17 years in hopes that they can once again return to greatness in the SEC. As it stands right now, it might take a lot more than a head coach to fix the mess on Rocky Top.

This week, even though they aren't in the SEC, an extra special Epic Fail goes out to the Michigan Wolverines, who will not be going to a bowl in Rich Rodriguez' first season in Ann Arbor. The losing season snaps a 33-year bowl streak for the Maize and Blue, which was easily the longest in the nation. The pain is only made worse as Ohio State, Michigan State, and Notre Dame are all having successful seasons once again.

So what is up concerning college football today?

• The Forde-Yard Dash on ESPN.com by Pat Forde takes a look at a potential eight team playoff and asks the question of where has George Teague gone.
• Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com looks into the BCS puzzle as well as Miami's second season under Randy Shannon.
• Chris Low of ESPN.com looks inside the SEC for his internal affairs and is sold on Alabama's three headed rushing attack.
• Steward Mandel of SI.com talks about the biggest storyline of this weekend in his weekly mailbag. Of course, its Nick Saban vs. Les Miles.
• Gentry Estes of the Mobile Press-Register takes a look at things Nick Saban has come to realize in his year and a half at Alabama.
• In today's Birmingham News, Ian Rapaport (my favorite blogger to read, btw) tells the story of how John Parker Wilson is among the Alabama elite quarterbacks, but he still needs some signature wins, starting with Saturday at LSU.

That's all for tonight. Tomorrow, we will take a look at LSU and all the threats they posses for this Alabama team.