George Schroeder

USA TODAY Sports

HOOVER — Even the dips, you’d have to admit, haven’t been deep. During Alabama’s phenomenal run, the Crimson Tide largely has avoided the pitfalls common even to elite college football programs. Four national championships in the last seven years, with no sign of a real decline.

In those other three seasons, Alabama was almost always very close. Most recently, the Tide lost a shot at another title with the “Kick Six’’ loss to Auburn. It was beaten in the College Football Playoff semifinals a year later by a hot, talented Ohio State team.

As the Southeastern Conference’s annual media days signal that kickoff is around the corner, the defending national champion will again be on everyone’s short list of playoff contenders, and perhaps again the favorite.

Which is why Nick Saban is concerned. As always. He’s well aware of what is required to reach the pinnacle — and to remain there.

“People think success is a continuum,’’ he recently told USA TODAY Sports. “Success is momentary. And to be really successful you have to have consistency in performance, so you have to do it over the long term.’’

If that sounds a lot like the Alabama program, it is. Just don’t tell Saban. He’s more concerned in continuing than in reviewing.

Alabama’s biggest obstacle might not be any team from the rest of the SEC West, talented as they are. It might not be a Tennessee or Georgia or Florida from the East. And it might not be whichever contenders from other conferences — Clemson? Oklahoma? Fill in the blank? — reach the College Football Playoff.

On the other hand, it might be all of them. Saban is correct when he says Alabama is “kind of a ‘circle game’ for every team we play.’’

“They’ve got that game circled, they want to beat Alabama, this is something that can make their season,’’ he said. “So we always have to be at our best.’’

And there, in that last part, is the coach’s continuing problem. Having been the best makes it even more difficult to stay there. Alabama’s toughest opponent in 2016 might be complacency.

“The challenge is always when you have success, people tend to forget what made them successful, ai-ight?’’ Saban said. “And complacency creates a blatant disregard for doing the right things or continuing to do the things that you’ve always done to help you be successful. So consequently you’re not at the top of your game when that happens.’’

Saban loves to talk about clearing the “clutter,’’ which is defined essentially as anything that distracts from the goal. There has been some this offseason.

The offseason arrests of left tackle Cam Robinson and defensive back Laurence “Hootie’’ Jones for possession of marijuana and felony possession of a stolen handgun — the prosecutor declined to pursue the case — doesn’t necessarily indicate a larger problem. But Robinson is Alabama’s best player, a probable top NFL draft pick next April. It’s not a good sign (and questions about what kind of punishment Saban might dole out to Robinson could at least be a distraction for the coach Wednesday at media days).

Likewise, the offseason departures of Kirby Smart to Georgia, as well as the dismissal of defensive line coach Bo Davis because of NCAA recruiting rules violations, don’t have to hurt. But they probably don’t help sharpen the focus, either.

Maybe Alabama is talented enough, it won’t much matter.

“Most of the teams we’ve had here have been capable enough, and they’ve always been in contention,’’ Saban said.

He goes on to mention that last-second loss to Auburn, and the semifinal loss to Ohio State. A play here or there, and the dynasty numbers would be unfathomable.

Of course, for every Kick Six, we could point to a bounce that helped the Tide. Last season, for example, it took a desperation catch-and-bouncing lateral on fourth-and-25 to extend Arkansas’ chances in an eventual upset of Ole Miss, an outcome that put Alabama back in control of the SEC West race.

But unlike its immediate predecessors, which suffered those losses to Auburn and Ohio State and fell short of the program’s almost impossibly high standard, last season’s Crimson Tide took full advantage of the second chance. It’s easy now to look back and say Alabama was the best team in 2015. But think back to last September, when Ole Miss upset the Tide for the second consecutive season.

A couple of weeks later, after a 38-10 whipping of Georgia, Saban told reporters, unsolicited: ‘’I believe in this team.’’ As it turned out, he had plenty of reason. With no margin for error, it seemed unlikely that Alabama would navigate the SEC West and emerge as national champion. But during the course of the season, the Tide grew in a manner unlike, perhaps, the 2013 and 2014 teams.

“There were definitely things that those teams could have done better,’’ Saban said. “But I think when we lost to Ole Miss last year, our team really came together, and our players all sort of bought in, and it was a pleasure to coach and they did a great job. And it was not probably the most talented team we ever had, but they certainly competed well together.’’

Adversity fueled the surge. Which brings us to 2016, another team coming off another national title. Another group of players fighting human nature.

“The human condition is to survive,’’ Saban said. “It’s not to win the championship. It’s not to be the best you can be. It’s to survive. So when you tell me I’ve got to sell this many cars this month and that’s my quota — well, when I sell that many cars I’m ready for a couple of days off and go sit in my chair and, you know, eat Tostitos and cheese. I’m not trying to set the world record.

“That’s the human condition. So it’s actually special to be the other way, to be somebody that wants to win a championship, to be somebody that wants to be the best they can be.’’

It sounds good in theory. In reality, it’s Saban’s continuing issue to solve. But all in all, it’s a pretty good problem to have.