The Crimson Tide kick off their season against San Jose St, in what Bama fans hope is the first win in route to defending their national championship trophy.  Outside of the Tennessee game, this should be the easiest game of the season for Alabama.  Most top 25 teams will play cupcake teams, and Alabama is no exception.  Here are 5 things you need to know before September 4th.

1: Backfield duo, best in nation: Teams playing Alabama this year will get sick and tired of hearing about the two headed monster of Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson.  The two rushed for a combined 2,500 yards last season and 25 touchdowns.  Alabama will once again rely on this duo to get them back to Atlanta, and eventually a BCS National Championship Game.

2: San Jose St is really, really bad: San Jose St last year finished 2-10 last season, and is looking to replace many new starters.  San Jose St scored an average of 13.8 points last year (117th in the nation) and allowed 34.5 points a game (118th worst in the nation).  On average, San Jose St lost each game by close to three touchdowns.  I would take Alabama and the points if the spread were Bama -35.

3: San Jose St plays Boise St: Why do you care, right?  Well, this is the only team that Alabama and Boise St play in common.  If Bama rolls and Boise St doesn’t, will it be used against the mighty Broncos of the WAC?  I can’t imagine either team “struggling” against SJSU, but it will provide us a common ground comparison.  Let’s just hope for a VT win in week 1.

4: Alabama’s passing game is not impressive: We already know that Alabama dominates in the run game, averaging 215 yards per game, good for 12th in the nation.  What you may not know is they barely cracked the top 100 in terms of passing yards per game at 187.9 yards a game.  Sure they didn’t have to throw the ball a lot last year; their run game was that good.  Will Alabama be able to throw the ball if it has too?  Fun stat of the day alert: Last time Greg McElroy lost a game, Wikipedia wasn’t around.

5: WAC: Weak Athletic Conference.  The WAC features one ranked team in Boise St, no other team finished with a defense in the top 65 in the nation.  Want to know how Boise St led the nation in scoring?  They played pitiful defenses.  That’s like Tennessee fans bragging about beating Kentucky for 20 something straight years, it’s Kentucky, you should beat them in football every year.  Even when your coach is Derek Dooley.