It’s Thanksgiving week, and so in the spirit of the holidays, I believe now would be a good time to take a look at this football season and reflect on what Alabama fans should truly be thankful for this season. Whether it’s players, coaches or even other teams, these are things Alabama should be thankful for heading into the remainder of the season.

Nick Saban

This one’s fairly obvious. Saban has been the single-greatest thing to happen to the Tide this millennium. In terms of success this year, however, Saban has orchestrated his team to be a legitimate title contender yet again, when this year was supposed to be a rebuilding year of sorts. He’s kept the players’ heads on their shoulders and made sure his team has been ready for each of their opponents week in and week out (mostly). Needless to say, the Tide wouldn’t be here without Saban.

T.J. Yeldon

Apart from providing the Alabama fandom exciting glimpses of what could be a future star at Alabama, Yeldon is responsible for the biggest, most important play of the Alabama season thus far. That play came against LSU when Alabama, down 17-14 and with a minute left, dumped the ball off to Yeldon on a screen play. What happened next would work itself into Alabama lore and keep Alabama’s dreams of winning an SEC and national championship alive. The 24-yard reception gave Alabama the permanent 21-17 lead and kept the Tide squarely in the title hunt.

The offensive line

These guys never get enough credit, but in reality, they’re the single most important unit on this team. These guys protect AJ McCarron and pave the way for running backs Eddie Lacy, T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake. Not to mention the fact they’re über-talented: D.J. Fluker, Chance Warmack and Barrett Jones are arguably among the best linemen in the nation, and Cyrus Kouandjio is proving to be the real deal at left tackle this year. You can’t forget Anthony Steen either, an integral and often-overlooked player in this unit. Together, these guys make all that offensive firepower you see on Saturdays possible.

Baylor Bears

A week after Alabama lost to Texas A&M, it looked like the Tide would need another miracle to get back in the national title hunt. Well, Baylor provided that miracle – or at least half of it – by not only beating the No. 1 Kansas State Wildcats, but absolutely embarrassing them, beating them 52-24 in Waco, Texas. The win was all that was needed, but the fact that they whipped the Wildcats so mercilessly essentially put the Wildcats out of the national title picture permanently, while simultaneously moving the Tide one step closer to the national title. And hey, while we’re at it…

Stanford Cardinal

…Let’s go ahead and thank the Stanford Cardinal, who provided the second half of that miracle I was talking about earlier. While Bama fans were ecstatically watching the drubbing Baylor was putting on KSU, they were also watching this game between the Cardinal and the vaunted Oregon Ducks in extreme anticipation, hoping the Cardinal could pull out the unbelievable upset and beat the Ducks and their offense in Eugene, Ore. Needless to say, that overtime field goal by the Cardinal elicited a lot of reactions from the Tide faithful around the nation, moving Alabama back into title contention.