TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The quarterback who who threw the first pass of the season was gone.
The team’s leading rusher was limited by an injury.
The linebacker everyone projects as a first-round pick was benched after a run-in with the law.
Alabama went from the preseason through September as the No. 1-ranked team in college football, and everything was rosy in Tuscaloosa until the leaves began to change and September became a thing of the past. Within a week, Blake Barnett announced that he would transfer, Damien Harris suddenly wore a wrap around his injured leg and Tim Williams faced discipline stemming from his arrest for allegedly possessing a pistol without a permit.