Maybe I am too pessimistic, but I think that Coach Shula is still at least two years away from an SEC Championship calibre team. The Crimson Tide is still rebuilding.
I'd say thats a pretty fair assessment. Of course, fortune might finally shine on us after many long painful years, and we might do better than expected. We must keep in mind that because of our particular depth problems for the past couple of years, many of our younger players should have more experience than young players on other SEC teams. But barring the planets all lining up right for us, 9-3 or 8-4 is likely a pretty good guess. Even so, the losses might not come until later in the season and we'll should be pretty serious conteders for the west crown until then.