Best SEC teams of the last decade: No. 6 ('12 Alabama)

Editor’s note: SDS is ranking the 10 best SEC teams of the last decade (since 2005). Previously revealed: No. 10 LSU (2007), No. 9 Alabama (2008), No. 8 LSU (2011), No. 7 Florida (2009).

6.) ALABAMA (13-1, BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONS)

Coming off of Nick Saban’s second national championship at Alabama in 2011, which arguably produced the best defense in school history, the Crimson Tide entered the 2012 season ranked No. 2 behind what everyone assumed was a blossoming USC team coached by Lane Kiffin.

Alabama carried with it six defensive starters from that suffocating ’11 team. The offense featured the likes of AJ McCarron, Eddie Lacy, Amari Cooper and T.J. Yeldon.

But this team’s identity resided in its offensive line, a mash unit on par with any that has ever suited up in the SEC: 2014 second-round pick Cyrus Kouandjio at left tackle, 2013 first-round pick Chance Warmack at left guard, 2013 fourth-round pick Barrett Jones at center, 2014 practice squad member Anthony Steen at right guard and 2013 first-round pick D.J. Fluker at right tackle.

This Crimson Tide team could get a lead and then bully opposing defenses while obliterating the remaining game clock. Lacy (6.5 yards per carry), Yeldon (6.3 ypc) and Kenyan Drake (6.7 ypc) took advantage, and Alabama cruised through its early schedule, winning its first eight games by a combined 270 points. (That’s a margin of 33.8 points per game, and included contests against No. 8 Michigan and No. 13 Mississippi State.)

Then came the rubber match against LSU, a season after a heartbreaking 9-6 overtime loss that the Tide avenged in the ’11 season national championship game. Bama went into Baton Rouge and won a physical, grinding affair, 21-17, the first time the defense gave up more than two touchdowns all season.

Johnny Manziel seized the opportunity the next week in Tuscaloosa, shredding Alabama’s defense in a shocking upset as the No. 15 Aggies brought down the national No. 1. It eventually secured a Heisman Trophy for Johnny Football and, everyone presumed, spoiled ‘Bama’s chance at back-to-back championships.

But Kansas State and Oregon both lost near the end of the season, giving the Tide new life. After squeaking past Georgia in the SEC championship, the team’s third and final close game of the season, Alabama trounced Notre Dame in one of the biggest blowouts against a No. 1 team in a national title game ever.

Jones won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s best center and the “Academic Heisman” in addition to consensus All-American status.

CB Dee Milliner, Warmack and LB C.J. Mosley also were All-Americans.

Best offensive player: OL Barrett Jones
Best defensive players: DB Dee Milliner/C.J. Mosley
Best wins: The Tide bookended the season with nearly identical scores against Top 10 teams, winning by 27 and 28 points.
Defining moment: Chris Conley caught a deflected pass from Aaron Murray and fell just yards from the end zone to end the SEC championship and cement Bama’s place in the BCS title game. Up 42-14 with the ball late in the game, Jones shoved McCarron after a botched offensive play, tickling Saban and serving as the go-to example of the coaches’ “Process.”

ALABAMA’S 2012 SCHEDULE