I haven't used this blog as a forum for spouting off about sports in a long time. So as my good friend Kenny Wilcutt says, I'm due.

I witnessed the Funeral in Athens last night as Alabama dismantled the preseason #1-ranked (and #3 currently) Georgia Bulldogs. As Pat Forde of ESPN puts it...Alabama deliver last rites to Georgia.

Many of you that know me know that I'm a HUGE Alabama fan, but I do not consider myself one of those obnoxious Alabama fans. You know the ones that scream ROLL TIDE! and cheer for anybody that's playing Auburn. I have many friends who are Auburn fans and I respect their allegiance as much as I hope they respect mine.

After last year's 7-6 season, with the talent we had coming in with our freshman class, I felt like maybe we could begin to turn it around. But our schedule didn't look like we could make too much improvement over that 7-6 record this year. A neutral site game against then #9 Clemson, followed up by two straight SEC road openers, at Fayetteville and at Athens.

Follow that up with trips to Tennessee and to Baton Rouge, and you can see why I might be a little hesitant to claim (as Sports Illustrated did again) 'Bama's back!

After witnessing the beatdown the Tide put on Georgia in Athens last night...I have no more reason to say anything other than this...WE ARE BACK. Here are some stats to throw at you (if you're into that kind of thing).

Alabama's never trailed in any game this year...ever. They've outscored their opponents 74-0 in the first quarter this year. In their two SEC road games so far this year, they've scored 90 total points. John Parker Wilson has become Alabama's all-time leader in yards, touchdowns and pass completions this year. And they are 5-0 for the first time in I don't know when. And they're doing all this while playing at least 15 freshman and having only 9 scholarship seniors on the team.

In other words...this Alabama team isn't going to get worse...they're going to get better.

Last night's half of football where Alabama jumped out to a 31-0 halftime lead was quite possibly the best half of football I've ever seen an Alabama team play. The best half of football I've seen any college football team play. And don't let the score fool you...even though Alabama won 41-30, that is not indicative of the absolute beatdown that took place.

What will be the result? With three of the top four teams losing this weekend (USC, Florida and Georgia), you can expect Alabama to reach at least the top 3, maybe even #1 or #2. Sure, sounds crazy, doesn't it?

At this point, you might even get me to buy into the "We can win a National Championship this year!" talk, but the problem with that isn't how Alabama plays...it's how the BCS is set up, so we might not get to see it even if we can continue to win.

But there's no doubt that Alabama has made tremendous strides as a football program. So 'Bama fans...hang on tight. It's about to get interesting.

So this is what having a great coach feels like...