Alabama Football: Scott Cochran destroys notion of 2nd place satisfaction

For Alabama football, there can only be one winner. For strength & conditioning coach Scott Cochran, no trophy is safe, not even one for 2nd place.

Verberations may still be felt from what took place in Alabama’s locker room on Thursday. Cochran took a mighty sledgehammer to the 2017 second place trophy only after he took his even mightier frame and threw it to the ground, smashing it into oblivion.

Bleacher Report has the link to Sport’s Illustrated tweeting Cochran’s absolute annihilation of the trophy, with a warning for the profane language used by Cochran and some of the players during the video.

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If one wants to be satisfied with second place, one only has to look at the video to find out what Cochran thinks of that mentality.

Just look at Cochran in an official tweet from the University of Alabama. Does that look like the face of a man happy to be anywhere other than a winner?:

After winning the national championship two seasons ago, Alabama football suffered a terrible blow by losing to Clemson, the team they beat the season before, by a last-second touchdown drive. The score stopped Alabama football from repeating as national champions.

Was it any wonder that Alabama’s defense looked ravenous for revenge against those same Clemson Tigers in last Monday’s Sugar Bowl? The defense was tired at the end of the last national championship, something that Cochran takes pride in eliminating as the strength and conditioning coach.

Alabama’s 4th Quarter program does not have players and assistant coaches holding up four fingers in the air just for silly kicks and giggles.

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By beating Clemson and winning the rubber match, Alabama football exorcised the demons haunting their second place finish last season. The only relic left of that burden was thoroughly demolished by Cochran in front of the players, forever imprinting in their minds that second best just means the first loser of many unfortunate souls who were not victorious.

However, the job is not yet done. Georgia stands in Alabama’s way of winning their fifth national championship in nine years. The dynasty would add to the collection if they succeeded over the Bulldogs. How would Cochran feel if Georgia, a fellow SEC member and state neighbor, was to win the national championship by ripping it out of the Crimson Tide’s hands?

Is that new Sugar Bowl trophy in danger next season? If Georgia wins the national championship, Alabama would replace the 2017 second place trophy with one for 2018.

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Trophies are nice, but they are not everything. If they were, they would not explode so completely like the one that Cochran destroyed in front of the Alabama players. A second place trophy is like a participation award: it is nice to be recognized, but nobody dreams of coming up short. Our society does not inspire and aspire to become the best loser.

If Georgia wins, not only will Alabama feel the loss, they will also feel a close neighbor rubbing it in its face. That’s not a dream, that’s a nightmare that nobody wants.