For a man who seems obsessed with having intricate knowledge of every diminutive detail that affects his life, Alabama coach Nick Saban appeared unusually perplexed when he began speaking to the horde of reporters gathered at the Southeastern Conference media days in late July.

Saban took to the podium, tossed out the obligatory hellos, then without a hint of a smile — which with Saban is his typical expression — asked, “Is it 2010? Am I right about that?”

Now granted, this is the same man whose tunnel vision toward football is so confined that he once turned down dinner with President George W. Bush because it would have taken him away from the second day of Miami Dolphins training camp, a mere 5½ weeks before the season opener. But no matter how driven some coaches might be, who out there doesn’t know what year it is (other than maybe Steve Spurrier, who thinks it is still 1996)?

Of course, Saban’s puzzlement was merely an act, a way for him to make a larger point, as he often does. He followed up his initial question by stating, “Because everything I hear has always been about last year. … I want to make sure I’m in the right year.”

Turns out this was Saban’s way of making a joke. Everybody wants to talk about Alabama’s 2009 national championship, the program’s first in 17 years, so he thinks maybe the calendar hasn’t turned to 2010 yet. For Saban, this is fairly funny stuff, which tells you a lot about his typical dour demeanor.

It also tells you why there is a good chance Alabama, the clear No. 1 in the AP and coaches' preseason Top 25 polls, will become the first team to repeat as BCS champions since the Bowl Championship Series was established in 1998. If there is anybody who will make sure that the Crimson Tide does not get fat and happy off last year’s success, it’s Saban. “Happy” and Saban simply don’t go together. “Content” is not in his vocabulary.

In Saban’s view of the world, what happened last season — or last game or even last play — means nothing. Past success is an indicator only of past success, and it certainly isn’t a reason to deviate from what he refers to as “The Process.” If you achieve greatness one time, then go out and work hard and do it again. After all, Beethoven didn’t stop with Symphony No. 1 did he?

This attitude doesn’t necessarily make Saban a fun guy to be around, but it does make him a winner, at least on the college level. Forget about the two years with the Dolphins. In his five college seasons at LSU and Alabama since 2003, Saban’s record is 55-12 with two national championships.

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Take away that transitional first year with the Tide, and Saban’s four-season college record since '03 is 48-6 overall and 29-3 in the SEC. Alabama currently is on a 16-game, regular-season winning streak in SEC play, an astounding accomplishment in what is arguably the toughest conference in college football.

So despite any complaints about his methods, there is no doubt that the Saban way has proven to work. He arrived at LSU and in four years gave the Tigers their first national championship in nearly a half-century. He took over an Alabama program that had blown through four coaches in seven years and had won one championship in three decades, and led the Tide to the title in season No. 3.

Given that record of success, it is hard to argue with Saban when he discusses the topic. So if he states that Alabama should not be viewed as the defending national champion, it would appear that's what he truly believes — and he wants his players to feel the same way.

“I’m sure somebody is going to ask me, ‘How are you going to defend this championship?’ ” Saban said before anybody had a chance to ask him a question at media days. “The championship is a part of history and we’re not going to defend anything. We’re not into repeating. … You really can’t look in the rearview mirror and be able to accomplish things.

“It’s more difficult to focus on the process of what it takes to be successful when you’re coming off success. That’s certainly going to be the challenge for our team, our players’ willingness to focus on doing the right things, the things that are necessary. To create an identity for this team in terms of what this team wants to accomplish and what this team can do in this football season is what we’re trying to focus on.”

If Saban manages to get his players to buy into this concept, and there’s no reason to think that he can’t, then Alabama certainly appears to have the tools to repeat, er, to win the national championship again this season.