re: Is this the year bama is dethroned?

What a weird recruiting year for Bama. Only 15 commits going into the home stretch, rampant decommits, and long time "locks" (Wilson/Davis) declaring favorites elsewhere.

Saban hasn't had disorder rule his recruiting classes so perhaps there is a grand plan in place for a Bobby Bowden type finish. That has not been the norm for Bama for quite so'e time though. In the Fran/Shula years this is where we went heavy on late offers to uncommitted 3 star players who became hot commodities as teams filled out their classes to 25-30 players. Recruiting services just called them "blue chip" players in headlines - lol.

You'd think NFL defections and graduations this year would have some players at key positions (LB, safety, DE, OL) drooling to come in and contribute as true freshman, so it isn't like Bama can't offer playing time.

We shall see