HOOVER, Ala. — Nick Saban looked back over his first season at Alabama on Thursday and described a team that was painfully inconsistent.

“We didn’t finish games,’’ Saban said at SEC Football Media Days. “We didn’t finish the season.

“We were inconsistent. We were up and down.’’

You couldn’t tell it from the Tennessee game.

The Crimson Tide was all up on the third Saturday in October, pounding the Vols 41-17 in Tuscaloosa.

“We probably played one complete game and that was the Tennessee game,’’ Saban said.

Not everyone played a complete game that day. Center Antoine Caldwell and four of his teammates didn’t play at all.

That was the day Alabama announced five players were suspended in a textbook-sales incident that violated institutional policy. Caldwell and another offensive line starter, Marlon Davis, were among the banished.

“That was tough,’’ Caldwell recalled Thursday, “because I love to compete.

“I was shook up. I was in tears that game. It turned to a smile pretty quick, though.’’

Alabama was giddy after ripping off 510 yards of offense against the Vols, a season-high except for the opener against Western Carolina.

The victory improved the Tide to 6-2. However, there wouldn’t be any more smiles for two months.

Caldwell and friends sat out three more games, losses to LSU, Mississippi State and — horrors — Louisiana-Monroe. He returned in time for a sixth consecutive loss to Auburn, followed by an Independence Bowl win over Colorado.

Perhaps adrenaline carried the Crimson Tide past Tennessee, but Alabama clearly missed Caldwell in the games to follow. He would start at four different positions on the line during the course of the season.

Now the senior captain is rated as one of the better centers in the nation.

Caldwell, who has his degree, considered leaving last winter for the NFL but didn’t. He said it wasn’t the suspension that tilted his decision, but fear that he might miss something special this year at Alabama.

“If I was in an NFL training camp or playing for a team and I looked back and saw Alabama won an SEC championship, I might fall out,’’ he said. “I didn’t want to regret any of that.’’

Speaking of regrets, another off-the-field issue has rocked the program this summer. Player Jimmy Johns was arrested for selling cocaine on campus, right outside the football facilities.

He’s gone and the Tide is moving on.

“It comes to a certain point in time when you’ve got to go to the house,’’ Caldwell said. “You’ve got to go home. They can’t just lock us in the complex for 24 hours.

“It’s unfortunate what happened to him but it goes back to everybody’s got to be responsible for carrying their weight.’’

The line is prepared to carry whatever weight it has to this fall. Four starters return, including All-America candidate Andre Smith.

“There is really no weakness on this offensive line,’’ Caldwell said. “If the hole’s not there, you’ve got to make one.’’

And that includes Oct. 25 in Neyland Stadium. This time Caldwell is set on playing against Tennessee.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.