2007 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

The 2007 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama for the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Tide was led by its new head coach Nick Saban, the former head coach of rival LSU. Despite a strong 6–2 start, they finished the season by losing four of their final five games. The team closed the regular season at 6–6 (4–4, SEC) and lost for a sixth-straight time to rival Auburn. The Tide defeated Colorado in the 2007 Independence Bowl 30–24 to finish the season at a 7–6.

Before the season

The Crimson Tide completed a 6–6 regular season record. Following their loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, head coach Mike Shula was fired on November 27, after four years. Athletic director Mal Moore announced defensive coordinator Joe Kines as interim head coach for the Independence Bowl, against Oklahoma State, which the Tide lost 34–31, finishing with a 6–7 record.

Returning starters

Eighteen starters returned from the previous season, including nine on offense, five on defense, and four on special teams.''2007 University of Alabama Football Recruiting and Media Guide'', p. 6 The most notable departures were Kenneth Darby and Le'Ron McClain on offense, and Dominic Lee, Jeremy Clark, Juwan Simpson, Terrence Jones, Jeffrey Dukes, and Ramzee Robinson on defense.

The Crimson Tide offense returned all three quarterbacks, including starter John Parker Wilson. The entire starting offensive line returned, anchored by freshman All-American Andre Smith, along with reinforcements by the top four tight ends from the 2006 depth chart. Alabama's receiving unit was led by D. J. Hall, who broke nearly every Alabama-receiving record in school history in 2006. The Alabama defense returned five starters in 2007, based on the 3–3–5 scheme that was run in 2006. The Tide had a new starting nose tackle, outside linebacker, strongside linebacker, cornerback, and a starting safety.

Offense

Defense

Special teams

Roster

Recruiting class

Alabama's recruiting class was highlighted by three players from the "ESPN 150": No. 72 Kerry Murphy (DT); No. 80 William Vlachos (OG); and No. 118 Luther Davis (DE). Alabama signed the No. 10 recruiting class according to Rivals and the No. 22 according to Scout.

Schedule

The Sagarin computer ratings calculated Alabama's strength of schedule to be the 31st most difficult out of the 245 Division I teams. The Cosgrove Computer Rankings calculated it as the 55th most difficult out of the 119 Division I FBS teams in its rankings. Alabama's 2007 schedule was officially released on July 24, 2006. It featured six pre-season AP Top 25 teams, eight of which made bowl games in 2006.

In accordance with conference rules, Alabama faced all five Western Division opponents: Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss. They also faced three Eastern Division opponents: official SEC rival Tennessee, Georgia, and Vanderbilt. Alabama did not play SEC opponents Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina. Alabama also played four non-conference games. The non-conference schedule included games against Western Carolina of the Southern Conference, Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Houston of Conference USA and Louisiana–Monroe of the Sun Belt Conference. For the 2007 Independence Bowl, Alabama played Colorado of the Big 12 Conference.

*Source: Rolltide.com All-time Football Results: 2007 Season

Rankings

Coaching staff

On January 3, 2007, Alabama announced that Nick Saban was hired from the Miami Dolphins to serve as the program's 27th head coach. In the weeks that followed, Saban worked to fill his staff. The first hires came on January 9 with Kirby Smart hired from the Dolphins to serve as defensive coordinator; Kevin Steele from Florida State to serve as head defensive coach; and Lance Thompson from Central Florida to serve as linebackers coach. On January 11, Joe Pendry of the Houston Texans was hired to serve as an assistant head and linebackers coach. On January 12 Saban hired two more assistants. Ron Middleton was hired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to serve as both the tight ends and special teams coach and Bo Davis from the Dolphins was hired as defensive line coach. On January 13 Major Applewhite was hired from Rice to serve as both offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. On January 16 Burton Burns was hired from Clemson to serve as both associate head and running backs coach. On February 19 Curt Cignetti was hired from NC State to serve as both receivers coach and recruiting coordinator to fill the final position on Saban's inaugural coaching staff.

Reference:''2007 University of Alabama Football Recruiting and Media Guide'', p. 1

Game summaries

Western Carolina

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The Nick Saban era commenced before a sold-out, home crowd of 92,138 by defeating the Western Carolina Catamounts 52–6 for both Nick Saban's first regular season game and victory as Alabama's head coach. Redshirt freshman running back Terry Grant scored the first touchdown of the season, on the first offensive play of the game, with a 47-yard touchdown run. Grant then scored his second touchdown on a one-yard run to give Alabama a 14–0 lead at the end of the first quarter. After a successful, 34-yard Jonathon Parsons field goal by the Catamounts, Grant scored his third touchdown of the evening on a 21-yard run. Leigh Tiffin then hit a 21-yard field goal to give Alabama a 24–3 halftime lead.

Bama continued the scoring in the third quarter with another pair of touchdowns. The first came on a one-yard Glen Coffee run and the second on a one-yard touchdown pass from Greg McElroy to Nick Walker. After a second Parsons field goal for Western Carolina, Alabama scored touchdowns on a one-yard Jimmy Johns run and a 25-yard Roy Upchurch run to make the final score 52–6. For his 134-yard, three touchdown performance, Terry Grant was named the SEC Freshman of the Week.

Vanderbilt

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For the 19th consecutive time, stretching back to the 1984 season, Alabama defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores to open conference play. In this contest, the Crimson Tide were victorious before a sold-out crowd of 39,773 at Vanderbilt Stadium 24–10 for Nick Saban's first conference victory as Alabama's head coach. After Javier Arenas returned the first punt of the game 69-yards to the one-yard line, for the second week in a row Terry Grant scored a touchdown on Alabama's first offensive play with his one-yard run. Leigh Tiffin hit a 20-yard field goal later in the quarter as did the Commodores' Bryant Hahnfeldt from 33 yards to make the score 10–3 at the end of the first. A pair of Tiffin field goals from 40 and 29 yards extended Bama's lead to 16–3 at the half.

After being held scoreless in the third quarter, Grant scored his second touchdown of the afternoon on a two-yard run early in the fourth quarter. With a successful two-point conversion pass from John Parker Wilson to Nick Walker, Alabama extended their lead to 24–3. Vanderbilt did score a late touchdown on a 15-yard Adams Mackenzi pass to George Smith to make the finals score 24–10. For his 173-yard, two touchdown performance, and for the second consecutive week, Terry Grant was named the SEC Freshman of the Week. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against the Commodores to 58–19–4 (61–18–4 without NCAA vacations and forfeits).

Arkansas

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In what was considered their first true test of the season, Alabama built an early 21-point lead but had to mount a come-from-behind drive in the final two minutes of the game in order to capture a 41–38 victory against the Arkansas Razorbacks. Bama took a 21–0 lead into the second quarter after a pair of D. J. Hall touchdown receptions of nine and 35 yards from John Parker Wilson and a 14-yard Glen Coffee run. The Razorbacks closed the gap to 21–10 at the half after Casey Dick threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Crosby Tuck and Alex Tejada converted a 22-yard field goal.

Alabama extended their lead to 31–10 in the third quarter after a 24-yard Leigh Tiffin field goal and a two-yard Wilson touchdown pass to Nick Walker. From this point, Arkansas scored four touchdowns to take a 38–31 lead late into the fourth quarter. Dick hit Andrew Davie for a two-yard touchdown reception late in the third. In the fourth Darren McFadden scored on runs of one and five yards on consecutive drives, and Peyton Hillis had a seven-yard touchdown reception to give the Razorbacks a 38–31 lead with 8:08 remaining in the game. Tiffin converted a 42-yard field goal and with 4:20 remaining in the game and then with only 0:08 remaining Wilson hit Matt Caddell for a four-yard, game-winning touchdown reception.

With his 172 yards receiving, D. J. Hall set a new Crimson Tide record for career receiving yardage previously held by Ozzie Newsome with 2,070 yards. The victory improved Alabama's all-time record against the Razorbacks to 8–8 (11–7 without NCAA vacations and forfeits).

Georgia

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A week after upsetting Arkansas and entering both the AP and Coaches' Polls, Alabama was defeated in overtime by the Georgia Bulldogs