It's back! And it's going to be a great season!!

Bama and Clemson are still the teams to beat, but it's college football and each game counts.

Go Bucks!

Yep waiting on my Bucks !!!

Having lived through the post-Bear, pre-Saban years, one might think it's easy being a 'Bama fan.

Truth is that the entire coaching staff, less Saban, has been replaced (okay, so we kept the same conditioning coach and the nutritionist), and the defense is once again brand new, as is most of the offense.

Add in that no doubt we've recruited our kicker from St. Mary's School For The Uncoordinated, it's always a nail biter going into the season.

I do have a question about how they determine strength of schedule. Apparently Alabama has this huge cake walk, but Auburn doesn't - it seems they play Texas A&M, Mississippi State, and a rejuvenated Tennessee. That Alabama plays these exact same teams somehow doesn't count. Yes, Auburn plays Alabama, but Alabama also plays Auburn.

I also don't understand the hype around Michigan and Shae Patterson. He's a solid QB, but he's no D. Watson or D. Prescott. And Michigan hasn't really been the powerhouse they're said to be.

What are all those "stars" GPA? What are they studying? Is there a real (besides the NFL or "collection/enforcer") career path for any of these college "stars".

I am 67 and have a 3.2 GPA in college. I had a sad 2.5 GPA when I restarted or it would be higher...plus serious morale problems due to incompetent/malevolent school administrators.

Nope, I cannot run real fast anymore and would never even walk into a Gucci store. BUT, I did pay taxes for over FIFTY years. Too bad my college financial assistance package is a joke compared to what a functional illiterate 300lb whole plugger gets.

Sorry, couldn't resist because college football is pretty much a free minor league system for the NFL and, I am ignoring that organization until they figure out if they are a sports/entertainment group or, a political action entity.

They're getting surprisingly relevant degrees, such as Sports Management and Communications. No, they're not hard science guys, but few college students are. Yep, there are some folks at some colleges getting a degree in Football (or leaving for the pros before they get one), but it's the exception rather than the rule.

The days when we'd snicker over a jock getting a degree in basket weaving are long gone....those classes are already full from regular students demanding them.

Considering that sports actually bring money into the college rather than cause an expenditure, it's a good deal for everyone.

The college gains exposure and money to fund not just athletics, but a bunch of other things, too. When a college does well in sports, enrollment by non-athletes goes up.

The student who plays gets a chance at a solid education and a dual threat career path. Either through their degree or to the NFL.

I absolutely despised football in High School, as it was indeed a cost expenditure and a vanity project at my small school, and the coaches instilled an attitude of entitlement to their players (which wasn't entirely unjustified). At the college level, though, it's different.

There is no explaining the hype of Michigan. It just happens every year. The local media here makes you nauseous with it. It is as predictable as the changing of the colors of the autumn leafs. They actually have a fairly tough schedule this year (how the heck that was allowed to happen is beyond me), so I don't expect them to be too successful.

Sorry Dart, they still graduate more than few functional illiterates.

World's best Dream job today?

A black Sports Agent with "cred"...and college connections.

If my little sad excuse for a college is an indicator, I have no doubt that LOTS of that "sports money" is fed to the "Elite Administrators" at those big "sports" colleges, Of course, enough is spent supporting gender bending 101, the history of Eunuch's rights, and the undeniable logic of female superiority classes to keep the proletariat quiet.

AND, yeah... No doubt most future theoretical physicists, practical electronic engineers and, all those silly science and math folks (who we need BADLY) go flocking to BAMA et al for the sports programs.

Seriously?

I hear ya Nixer - search on my thread about Ohio State cover up of there coach. Money rules.....
And I have kids that went and are going to college who can't get jack because of my color and that I have a job...

But...

It's college football!

Number one - football is a great sport. Involves strategy, teamwork, physical strength (describes the NFL).
College football takes that a step further and involves school pride and emotion. Bring it on!

Watching a Big10 game right now. Which is strange they usually have a 3 game pre-season before conference
games begin.

My prediction for the Buckeye's: 10-2

+1000 I saw two taking a knee before a pre season game and that is it for me, I won't watch 1 NFL game this season. I watched maybe 2 last year after the kneeling disrespect and swore them off. The disrespect shown our Police Officers, our Military Personnel and our Flag is a disgrace.
I just sort of hate that the first game of the year in College football is a tune up against a no name college. They should each jump right in with a rival game that would really put them to the test. Week one is a waste to me.


Sorry, On Topic, Go Dawgs! Ranked # 4 and soon to be #1

S!Blade<><

Actually, in the case of Alabama, quite a bit of that money finds it's way to UA-Huntsville (engineering) and UA-Birmingham (medical).

Weirdly enough, students selecting colleges actually take sports into account, regardless of academic interest. It doesn't make any sense to me, either, but the statistics don't lie about it.

At any rate, perhaps a topic in the PWEC about the value of college athletics would be better than in this thread?

I'd like to wish UGA a modicum of luck, after all, as well as Auburn. Not too much, mind you.

And to Washington as well. Unlike the B1G, when they make it to the Nationals they can actually score points.

[edit]. I'm with Saban in that they need to reduce the Division II scheduling to just one game a season and have more out of conference Division I games.

Good points Dart as always.

I was a bit concerned about tomorrow...then I read that Louisville players have been trash talking Alabama.

That always works out well for the other team.

Bring on the WE WANT BAMA signs!



And last minute package deliveries to SEC teams:

I some stat yesterday about how long it has been since Bama lost an opener to an unranked team (can't remember, but it has been a long time). Could be they are due ????

Watching my Spartans tonight. Now they have been known to have some real clunker openers, but I fell good about them this year.

I'm not a huge fan of college football by any means but I still like it when the University of Miami Hurricanes win. Hopefully this will be a good season.

BOOOOOOOO BOOOOOOOO Hissss Hissssss! Ex Georgia Head Coach alert.


Go Dawgs!!!

Actually I am just kidding, I always liked and had a lot of respect for Coach Mark Richt. I hope he does well at Miami this year.... errrr just not as good as Georgia, but good.

S!Blade<><

Don't be Smugg Dart. Nobody likes a Smug Alabamian! Nobody. It is a new season, Alabama is o-o just like everybody else.


S!Blade<><

This is why I love college football....

And you learn new words - Alabamian. Had no clue..

Michigan State: Was almost going to 9-3 record because of them. Now, 10-2 sounds good.

Go Bucks!

Once again, Coach D. didn't have the Spartans ready to start the season.

GO B1G !!!

Yep LB as long as that Team up north's -2 is to the Bucks

Yep Piper as long as that Team up and may the north's -2 is to the Bucks

I'm not smug - indeed, I'm thinking Bama has a two loss season, and doesn't go to the Nationals. As crazy as it sounds, people will begin saying the whole "end of a dynasty" thing after a two loss Alabama season, which will be hilarious.

A&M will prove to be a good team again. Auburn is always good, and has the chops to go the distance.* Both Ole Miss and LSU can go from dumpster fire to contender in a heart beat.

My final four - Washington, Ohio State,** Auburn and Georgia.

* They really don't get the credit they deserve - and I say that as an Alabama fan.

** The committee loves Ohio State, and any excuse they can put them in will be gooder enough.

Hey Dart, I am just kidding around with you. My best friend went to Alabama, my brother to Auburn, my sister-in-law was a cheerleader at UGA and I have always admired those that can keep the grade point average to play at Georgia Tech. So, I am always torn with who to cheer for. Last year was just such a surprise when UGA came from nowhere to end up in the NAT Championship. I just Love watching the Teams that play and operate at the high end of the proficiency spectrum. Whether it is my team or not, win or lose I always take my hat off to the team that earned it the good old fashioned way, by playing the toughest and best. So last year my hat was off to Alabama when it was all said and done. It was a spectacular season, and we can only hope that season is as fun to watch.

S!Blade<><

Buckeye's are 1-0 !!! A little sloppy, but we actually have a QB this year!


ps hoping to see a scoreless tie tonight (ND vs. mi)

Just read Dart's reply - no, you're not smug..

Of course they like Ohio State! We actually have fans that go to ALL away games. Especially bowl games.

I just hope that to get into the national tourney this year you would FIRST have to win your conference.

Anyone think App St has a chance versus Penn St? Tied at halftime. 11yrs ago today App St pulled THE biggest upset
in the history of sport!-)))

Had to go to OT, Penn St wins.

Loads of room for improvement for The Tide.

Defense looked sloppy, too many penalties, running game wasn't explosive.

Auburn looked okay, very solid.

LOL @ Michigan. I was wondering why they were thinking Shae Patterson was some kind of Football Jesus.

It wasn't so much about Patterson (IMHO), it is just residual Harbaugh hype. Lord knows there is enough to go around. It looks like it will be the Bucs and Badgers fighting for top B1G spot.

At least Bama looked ready to start the season, can't say that for a few teams so far.

I love this time of the year. Hockey starts in a month. I am just glad the old TV in the man cave still works after being off for so many months.

Lots of criticism for Saban being short with Maria on the field when she asked yet again about the QB competition.

My take:

Reporter: "Coach, were you trying to make that woman cry?"

[steely glare]

Saban: "What is best in life?"

How long did it anybody think it would take for this to happen. The female reporter strategically placed right there to ask an inane question (attempting to look like she has an inside rapport with him), and the coach being forced to give a serious answer. Most coaches look like they are annoyed by this stuff, but know they have to play the game or lose their job. I'm sure he will do a mea culpa, and that will be it.

Female sideline reporter : "Coach, what do you think your team needs to do to win the game today?"

Coach: "Well (insert girl's name), I think we need to score more points than the other team."

Well besides making the girls cry, Saban's got a tough choice to make soon.

No clue where he came from, but since Tua started last year he's been great. And what about Hurt?
He's led Alabama for awhile and been pretty successful.

I've just never seen a two-quarterback system work well.

ps and shame the better team didn't win in Happy Valley yesterday. What a good game! App St didn't
have the backups to substitute at the end and just petered out.

A great week 1 (so far)

If I were a head coach of any team, I'd hand the press a set of three cards.

Card A would say "We have to control the line of scrimmage against a tough opponent. We have to be disciplined in the trenches, be physical, and not make any mental errors."

Card B would say "They're a really good team; it's going to come down to staying on schedule and playing the whole 60 minutes and never giving up, regardless of the score."

Card C would say "It's a matter of having the mental discipline to play the whole game, one play at a time, eliminating as many errors as we can against a tough team that can take advantage of them."

And then when asked the same dumb question, simply say "Card B."

You know Saban is a Great Coach, I have always liked him and his business like manner. Ask him a stupid divisive question and guess what, he gives you the Truth about the situation and calls her out for trying to instigate a reaction from him that might well hurt the moral of his quarterbacks, and guess what, the whole social media and regular news has its panties in a wad. I say go Saban, thank you for answering that question in a very business like and straightforward way. No one could misinterpret it, but all the PC pansies could inject their emotional reactions into it and stir the pot. IMHO, the on the field quick interviews should stop. Reporters should just have a pre game(short) interview time and the normal post game interview time, that is it. Honestly, to me, Football is a mans sport and the game and the broadcasting should be left to the men. No women on the sidelines or in the locker rooms. There I said, but that is IMHO.

S!Blade<><

It is like the general public can't get excited without the media hyping up the event.

The on field interview with the head coach right before the start of each half and the end of the game is just stupid. It is awkward as hell, the questions are dumb, and the answers are canned. The female reporter always talking like the coach has confided in her his deepest thoughts on the game. "You know Coach (blank) and I were knocking back some beers last night and he told me that he just couldn't decide which QB to start". Blah, blah, blah. It's so cookie cutter. It is done in every college football game. Every one. I don't have anything against female sports reporters, but this cookie cutter, forced authenticity stuff is just stupid.

Week 2 is almost here!!!!

Ohio St plays Rutgers....yawn, Clemson plays Texas A&M...a looker,

My youngest is a freshman at ECU. My oldest graduated from UNC. UNC plays ECU this weekend so we're going.
If it's on TV, I'll be the only person in the stands with an Ohio St t-shirt on :-)

While it's a Division II school, I'm hoping Bama can fix its errors and weaknesses on the field.

Glad to see the SEC as a whole doing well. First, it's not good to have a weak conference with just one or two powerhouse teams (looking at you, ACC); second, the credibility of saying Bama has a weak schedule goes to zero.

I'm looking forward to the Pittsburgh vs. Penn. State game Saturday night. That always is a good one. My Spartans look to be playing in some very high temperatures in Arizona later that night. It sure seemed like there were a lot of players adversely affected by the heat and humidity in many of last week's games. I saw a lot of guys cramping up. The only game on right now is in "rain delay" Rain delay? There had to be lightning. I would rather play in rain or snow than in hot conditions.

Announcers for the Alabama game must have started drinking early...by the end of the fourth quarter they were mumbling random thoughts.

Best player on the field was the 5'5" tall running back for Arkansas State. Dude is 160 pounds and gained 5 yards after contact against the Alabama line. Hire him as a Grad Assistant as a running back coach first chance, Saban.

While the score didn't reflect it, their stats were better than Louisville.

Texas A&M is just scary. So much for the SEC being weak. Gonna watch the last half to see what the big controversy in their loss was.

Big10 got beat bloody yesterday...was hoping for better.

But, the only thing better than college football is going to a college football game!
Got to see ECU beat the crap out of in-state rival UNC! Great game, great tailgate party!
(except for the jackass who looked at me and said "#%&*$# unc"... I got in his face and said "can't you read my Ohio St shirt you #%&*$# moron"
Hard to believe you can get that drunk on coors lite...

Well, Dart's right. SEC West is the conference to beat.

Another great week for college football though!

Well the B1G did look weak this weekend. It looks like it is really just the BIG 2. Everything else is just filler.

Week 3 - and I have power to the house so I can actually watch!

Games I'm interested in:

LSU vs Auburn - that game will be entertaining
Alabama vs ole'Miss - line is Bama by 23, maybe if ole'miss could slide Elli Manning in again....
Ohio State vs TCU - Go Bucks!

Troy is a bunch of meanies that don't understand they're Division II.

This game has my blood going.

Go BUCKS!

Got it done!

Go Bucks!

LOL @ Dart and that red tide thing.

I swear Saban looked like he felt sorry for them.

Piper it was a good game last night..I really don't like the lopsided games where we take a huge early lead and stay there through the whole game

Blow outs are boring unless it is 2 good equal teams going at it.

Texas mauled USC.


Wheels

College football is more my wife's thing, but I know she's happy right now and is going to be even happier when she finds out I have Rice tickets for Nov. 17th (last LSU home game) in our favorite section of the stadium (high and cheap, backs to the sun).

The game...meh. But I do enjoy the exercise we get waking the campus (starting with far out river parking, a nice jaunt) and especially walking the practically unused ramps and steps at the stadium. I guess I'm getting into it a little more over time if just because of the games we've been going to, but mainly I just like getting out and doing stuff.

Mark hanging out with your best friend and enjoying the day no matter what you do is the best gift of all

True dat.

And besides the game, there's always drunk and/or crazy people who provide additional entertainment, especially in the steep areas where we sit.

LOL Might have seen me there Mark

My wife is a football scholar, which is hilarious in a couple ways. She's a better analyst than most announcers.

The Tide managed to come back from behind against Ole Miss, managing to contain them for the remaining 59 minutes and 49 seconds of the game for a win.

LSU vs Auburn was a tough fight for both. And Bama still has to play both. So much for the SEC being a cupcake conference.

On blowouts - they are fun to watch, as if the coach is good he'll start putting in lower strings of players. For a Bama fan, that means learning the names of next year's starters, as we usually swap out the whole team at the draft.

Can anybody explain how in the heck Notre Dame is ranked 8th. ?

God got a great TV deal with NBC.

And Alabama is still the team to beat! What, +50pts for first 3 wks. Damn.
Will be fun to see them play a ranked team to see how good they really are.

Well, we already played ranked teams. That they weren't ranked very high isn't our fault.

No offense to Bama. They are legit. Just saying it's a better game to play a competitive team than to see a blowout.

Don't know if you watched any OSUvsTCU highlights but crap. They threw stuff at the Bucks that they never see playing
Big10 teams, or the out-of-conference games.

To quote the Fiat in Cars,, "I only follow the Ferraris."



I must say that there is a bunch of eye rolling that I make whenever the B1G gets accolades and talk about how great they are - and superior to the SEC in every way, especially in the pre-season.

Michigan is a powerhouse just one quarterback/receiver/waterboy away from taking it all. Ohio State shouldn't even bother to play, but have the National Championship handed to them....and it's just an SEC conspiracy that keeps them down.

Say what one will about the PAC-12, when they send a team to the Nationals, they can at least put points on the board, something neither B1G team has done in their last two showings.

[edit]

Ohio State is a solid team...my gripes are with the analysists and rabid fans.

Dart, Dart, Dart...always a put down on the Big10. And I do like the Pac-12. Last couple years we played them, we've beat them.

Announcers.. Some are good, most are bad. I actually watched last week's TCU game with the volume off because Kirk Herstreit
was announcing the game. The guy just blows. Former Ohio State QB too. Sucked at that too. Now thinks his crap doesn't stink.
Can't stand people like that.

My favorite, and going back a few years, were Mike Gottfried & Sean McDonough. Great team and made listening fun. Same with
Keith Jackson. Distinctive voice and true college football fan.

Week 4 is coming!!

Ah, good old Kirk, who we get regularly on ESPN.

Four good plays - the team is a flawless juggernaut. Four bad plays? The same team has serious flaws, and just can't handle what is being thrown at them.

Is the team down by 14? Hopeless forms. If they come back to lead, they're genius monsters.

I'm liking LSU's new Yankee transplant quarterback...

==========
"Burrow talked about how his teammates got on him early on in his tenure for eating a salad, despite fried chicken being available.

"I went to grab a salad as a little appetizer for some lasagna and I just start getting made fun of," he said. "I look around and I was like 'what are you guys talking about? I can't eat a salad down here? They said 'No, grab the fried chicken.' "

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/lsu/article_51168a76-b908-11e8-ae02-d3c37a73bba5.html
==========

Lol.

LSU is very good!

The funny thing is the wife predicted it pre-season! Last year the scores might not have reflected it, but they had more right than wrong in the fundamentals. The same is true with A&M.

It's also why Tennessee is going to be a long row to hoe, for the opposite reason.

So your saying A&M is better with an ACC coach?

You mean the former Saban assistant? Yep.

College coaches rarely have allegiances to their schools for the simple reason that it's a job, the university is their employer, and either can terminate the situation pretty much at will.

I think Jimbo is a great fit or A&M; he gets the culture there (or at least seems to), and the players, trustees, and boosters all seem to have bought into what he wants to do, much in the way that Smart fit into UGA like he was built for it,* Dabo into Clemson, Meyer into Ohio State.

Lord knows I went through the Perkins-Shula era at Alabama. Stallings was the only one in that run that fit, but it was at the end of his career and it showed. On paper, Shula should have built a dynasty; but he didn't mesh with the system.

I'm concerned that Pruitt may not get the fit at Tennessee. It's a weird school to coach at, and he's going to need a lot of support to turn the program around.

Saban did very well at LSU, okay in the NFL, and became a monster at Alabama. Right man at the right school at the right time. Could he have achieved the same success at USC, Oregon, Michigan or Nebraska? I highly doubt it.

What the analysts seem to miss about Harbaugh at Michigan is he's not quite the right fit for some reason. He's undeniably a great coach; I just think he's in the wrong place twice over. While the fans love him, it seems like he's not quite the fit for the school's program; indeed, I think he should consider going back to the NFL, where one can expect to develop good players for more than three years before losing them.

That's what ol' Skip Bayless on ESPN gets wrong about Saban (and a lot of coaches) when he points out his somewhat lackluster record at Miami. College football and the NFL are two different animals. One can excel in one and simply be okay in the other. Brian Daboll, for all the press he put out, clearly didn't like the "other stuff" of college football like recruiting, having players with obligations like classes, a host of NCAA restrictions, etc., and wisely went back to the NFL. That is to say if that wasn't the plan all along. My theory is he did a stint at Alabama as an offensive coordinator so he could switch NFL teams without having death threats put on him.

* Jury is still out on Smart; the SEC curse is for a new coach to have a good first year, a great second year with a title, a fine third year, a crappy fourth and then get fired. It's rare that a coach can have a few bad years (in SEC terms; an 8-4 season in any other conference is considered a success) and still be around for the job. I had fine admiration for Bielema at Arkansas, and I think the fans are going to learn that he was getting far more out of what he had to work with than they realize.

The fans here are starting to turn on Harbough. It will be pick forks and torches pretty soon. The honeymoon is over, for sure.

Far too much hype was put out on Shae Patterson. When we started hearing all the Football Jesus stuff, Sherry and I looked at each other and said "Wait, the guy from Ole Miss? Can't be the same guy," but it was. Patterson is a solid quarterback, but he's no Watson, Prescott, or Mond. Hell, Hurts is a better escape artist than Patterson, and that's supposed to be Patterson's calling card.

Btw, Mond at A&M is under-rated, IMHO. Dude can make something out of nothing when under pressure.

Bama struggled on defense, had some problems on offense, but manages to squeak out a win. Told you it would be a challenging game!

Georgia struggled on defense, had some problems on offense, but manages to squeak out a win. Told you it would be a challenging game!




SBlade<>< ---> GoDawgs!

Some great games yesterday!

Ohio St led 42-7 at halftime so urban put in the 2nd string for the second half. They could only manage to score 7pts in 30min....

Oh well, on to not-so-Happy Valley next week!

At least you get what I was conveying - like Bama, Georgia isn't a perfect team; niggling little hitches that need to be cleaned up before they become game losers.

In the case of the Bama game (I have the UGA one DVR'd but haven't watched it), it was inconsistent and sometimes incoherent on both offense and defense. It's like they managed the line of scrimmage rather than dominating it. And the defense allowed way too many plays from the TAMU offense. Remove the actual score, and the stats show a TAMU victory.

Good grief - if the O line can't make a crease, don't run the ball up the middle! One jet sweep - the first of the season - and hey whatcha know, it worked.

We didn't see the 2nd or 3rd team out there for that reason - TAMU wasn't beaten, they were simply out scored. Tua showed signs of losing poise as well. Say what one will about Hurts, but he's never rattled.

It was a good game for Bama, though - some of the mistakes that other teams hadn't capitalized on were taken advantage of by TAMU, and they never had the hands-on-hips look of dejection we normally put on our opponents. No better antidote for "rat poison."

Pruitt's job at Tennessee is even a tougher job than I thought - he actually had a player refuse to take the field when called on! Yikes!

I was just getting at the notion that both Bama & UGA had better keep working hard on the fundamentals and strength in Depth to excute on all levels including the 2nd & 3rd lines because they each have to execute as a Team to all depths or else they will fall. Rat Poison is merely one way of many to be taken down.

S!Blade<><

That ladies was a Big10 football game!!!!

We survived. Go Buckeye's!

Bama's fourth and fifth strings need some work.

Also, do we have some sort of secret ceremony before the start of each season to sacrifice the kicking game so whatever strength it might have is given to the other parts of the team?

C'mon, missing extra point kicks. Really?

Dart, I'll be at the Bama vs Razorbacks game next weekend courtesy of my brother-in-law.
Looking forward to see Alabama in person. TV doesn't really show the speed of the game.

Our defense still needs work!

Arkansas, which can always turn up a shock with good play, didn't surprise me in that regard - but #%&*$#.

Glad they cranked up the run game; Tua is getting beat up as the season goes...note the knee brace that came out after the half.

And missing extra points again? Sigh.

Another great week in college football!!

Just returned from Arkansas and got to see the Razorbacks play the #1 team in the nation.

#%&*$# are they good. AR was up for the fight and pushed Alabama all over, but the speed that Alabama has is incredible.
Glad I went.

I just want to see the top 10 teams play each other, instead of these blowouts against the outranked.

Did you see that the refs worked under the whole "Holding? Never heard of her!" frame of mind for both teams? Geez, we were either yelling in anger at our guys for it (figuring they'd get the penalty) or in exasperation when Arky was doing it (and wasn't).

That needs to cleaned up.

I don't mind blowouts when it's my team winning. One gets to see the whole play executed as practiced, a sort of football clinic.

So yesterday was Upset Saturday Six teams in the Top25 went down.

Buckeye's played like crap, but still managed a win against a very mediocre team...

Auburn ate too much rat poison and didn't prepare properly. TN came to play and caught them looking with play that wasn't fancy, just good fundamental ball.

Btw, if one watches an Auburn game, the tell is when they start running trick plays...they're done like Thanksgiving turkey at that point.

I suspect Saban didn't have Hurts throwing more than just a little to sucker TN for next week, as I don't think we'll see Tua for more than a quarter next week regardless of score; they're understating the injury to his knee. Hurts is 100% better as a QB than he was last year.

And our punter want into double witness protection after the game.

A question for my eagle-eyed SimHQ fans: have the refs this year just decided that offensive holding isn't really a penalty this year? All season I've seen bunches of it on both sides of the game simply ignored.

Well, if they have decided that offensive holding isn't really a penalty, I hope they don't decide it is just in time for the BCS games. I've seen calls go all year long one way, and then all of a sudden in the playoffs it's different.

LSU is awesome!

Hey! That was uncalled for you $#^%$& Bama &#%$^#&!!!



GO DAWGS!

not sure where we are going, BUT WE ARE GOING!!!


S!Blade<><

I was referring to the "Just Don't Suck!" line in the video.

Otherwise, no love for the whodats.

LOL.

But doesn't whodat belong to the 'aints?

I remember back in 2010, New Orleans was still celebrating a Superbowl victory. It was the Time Machine tour (Moving Pictures in its entirety) and Geddy Lee did a whodat to the audience. The arena (next to the Superdome) went freaking ballistic.

Dart, your wife called it (LSU doing well this year, at least so far). I'm still mostly indifferent to LSU football, but at least I'm watching the games now.

The rumors at LSU were that Miles and his coaching staff had a lot of friction, and so they were following his instructions more than doing their thing as they saw fit. Coach O is apparently a lot more of a delegate kind of leader, more interesting in providing overall direction and message to the team.

This seems to have borne true, as Ogeron didn't remake the staff when he got the nod, and with a lot of the same players is getting a lot better results.

Nothing against Les Miles - the guy is a proven coach - but the circumstances and culture of the coaching staff seemed to have gotten away from him.

I like LSU moving back to being a powerhouse. The SEC West used to be a harsh gauntlet, and it hasn't lived up to its reputation. Now if Ole Miss can find the voodoo doll hidden somewhere on the practice field and get rid of it....just as long as they don't raid Alabama's coaching staff like everyone else (but LSU).

Speaking of which, looks like Pruitt's work at TN is slowly paying off. I still think he needs another season to get things right up there, though. He's okay, I guess, even though he played and his father coached at Plainview High School (bitter rival to the High School I went to - Fyffe Red Devils FTW!). It's sad to see a traditional rival to Alabama reduced to the state where they carried a trash can on the sidelines as a trophy.

On the whole "Saban is undefeated against former assistants" stat announcers love to throw around - it's a garbage statistic. Since his second season, Alabama under Saban has lost fourteen games (in ten years, including three losses in 2010) in the regular season. Total. So when a team is only averaging one loss a season in the last nine years, he's beating everyone no matter who they worked for previously.

LOL, I remember in 2007 when everyone was calling for him to be fired during that first 7-6 season, saying he was an LSU plant put in Tuscaloosa to make sure we never got good. '83 to '06 were tough times to be a 'Bama fan, something that seems strange today.

Well, if they ever fire Saban, would gladly give your Urban back.

He now thinks he's back in Utah and turning a fine running offense into nothing but a passing threat.
It's not the way of the Big10,,,sigh

We're thinking about walking the campus on Alabama game day to check out the madness (I hear it's always crazy when the Tide comes in), then watching the game at the Varsity Theatre (where we've seen many a Rock shows). They show the game on a big screen with no admission as they make money off the bar (plus another connecting bar and grill). If it's too crowded and/or noisy, we can always leave and watch it on DVR when we get home.

http://www.varsitytheatre.com/newevents/lsufb09

Man, I've been crazy strict on my eating lately and I think I deserve a (just off campus) Mellow Mushroom shrimp and artichoke heart pizza!

EDIT: Alabama (and any SEC) tickets are a little more than the $8.00 I paid for the last home game against Rice.

So, not a fan of Purdue right now - Buckeye's getting their ass kicked.

But say a prayer for Tyler Trent tonight. A BoilerMaker who loves college football.

#%&*$# cancer!

Pruitt on a tear in Tennessee - Alabama didn't change it's signals and when he read them and called the adjustments his players weren't looking to the sidelines to get them.

The wife and I watched the TN-Auburn game on the scouting mission, and had a bit of a conversation about the speed of play.

"They look like they're at practice," I commented, "Walking through the plays."
"That's not how Alabama practices," she countered, "I watched all those videos on it. They're much faster than that."

Pruitt said after the game:



For our Buckeye fans:

What happened against Purdue? Did Ohio fall into rat poison syndrome and just not come prepared to fight? Did they have players out?

Not sure, but they played poorly in every aspect of the game. A repeat of the Iowa game last year.

Hopefully they will get their heads out of the AP poll and start concentrating on winning games..

They did not mention Butch Jones by name:



Btw, I agree with the Tennessee fans that his celebration after the game was too over the (Rocky) Top and classless.

Those were largely his players on the field getting trounced, and TN is paying him 200K a month as his buyout. He's an "intern analyst" that doesn't coach players, so had about as much input during the game as those of us watching from home.

Go Dawgs!!!



And Now You Know-
It was a good win after a week off and that stinging loss to LSU, but it was painful watching that 7 play goal line stand by the Gators. Much respect to the Gators, but that play calling of run it up the gut 6 times including two QB sneaks back to back was pitiful. Once you see that the O line is not getting any push after a run or two, don't you scratch your head and say, gee, we had better try something different? Anyway, it was good to see Jake Fromm in top form after all the nay sayers were calling for his replacement after the LSU game. Now every sports commentator is saying he is the man and there is no doubt he has earned the job as the starting QB for the rest of the year. Hell, Fromm proved that last year in his Freshman year. We are living in a social media driven, no loyalty, hype driven, just because I tweet it means its true, world of D-bags sports commentators and turncoat fans. This IMHO of course.
The Rest Of The Story.

Have A Nice Day!

S!Blade<><

The first half of the GA game was painful to watch in that the play was slowwwww, almost a mirror of the GA/LSU game, where there didn't seem to be a sense of urgency by either team. Over five minutes to complete the first drive by GA!

Today if I were a Florida defense guy I'd be mightily pissed at the offense - they did everything they were supposed to do and the offense either screwed it up or didn't capitalize on it. Florida's offensive players had their heads down on the sidelines before the half, when they were still in the game.

In the rear of the game, GA started playing with some fire and it showed. They looked like the team that won the SEC championship and nearly the National last year when they went fast. They have the talent and the coaching to be able to no-huddle and execute well; why they didn't until late is a mystery to me.

I don't get the whole flea-flicker thing - even Alabama did one this year - and it's such a low percentage play that I'd put it behind the desperation tab of the play book.

Interesting day in college football.

Alabama - no one can touch them. Just jump to the NFL, or start your own league

Clemson - was that a hoops score

Ohio State - you have issues

Michigan - muck fichigan

The way they have the rankings lately, I think the NCAA has already decided the BCS.

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Notre Dame
4. winner of Michigan/Ohio State game

I just hope that of the 30 some Bowl games to come, at least a few of them will be good.

I joked before the game that we should have a drinking game - every time they said "Devin White" in the first half of the Alabama game we should drink. Thankfully we didn't, or we'd of died.

Refs once again refused to call holding - offensive or defensive - on either side. Interesting.

Tua's cup was the MVP. Launching, crown of the helmet to the "goodies," and while he did have to go to the sideline for the "Nut Protocol," it seems he was okay. No targeting call, though.

LSU's secondary on defense was all it was advertised to be, as we saw in the close, low score. Our defense has been tired of being overshadowed by the offense in the press and came out to prove they're still worthy of mention.

Burrows is not normal. Something is broken in that man's head. About hit number two I'd of been on the sidelines crying, whimpering for Hello Kitty bandaids and bactine, and demanding something be done about the bad men that had hurt me.

[edit]

I did not understand the hype around Devin White. How was one defensive lineman supposed to win the game for LSU? And he came into the game fresh...and had very little impact.

Wife: "Why is LSU playing so lousy?"
Me: "Maybe they're not. Maybe Alabama is just that good."

My only surprise was that Tracy missed a field goal < 50 yards.
Me: "Bama must really be in their heads."

I thought he'd get a chance to redeem himself at the end of the game and put at least 3 on the board. That is, if LSU could have kept from losing yardage on their last drive (a lot to ask for that day). But Burrow got picked in the endzone on third down and that was the last time the offense was on the field.

At least that's how I remember it while half-ass paying attention.

If Syracuse could beat Clemson last year, they sure as heck can beat Notre Dame this year. It's extremely difficult to go undefeated and even though Nick Saban is the best coach in college football history (it''s more difficult now than it was back in the old days due to parity), he's only gone undefeated one time and even that may not of happened if Colt McCoy wouldn't have gotten injured early in the 1st quarter. I'm glad Alabama won't though as the Longhorns are so unlikable.

And while things are looking good for Michigan, they have a history of choking and Ohio St. isn't a gimme regardless of what happened in the Purdue game. Lots of strange things can happen in rivalry games.

While I'll be the first to say Miss States was cheated out of a TD, I'll also ask when spearing stopped being a penalty.

That's twice a defensive player has intentionally gone for Tua's knees.

Another great weekend of college football!

Alabama is still the team to beat. I feel sorry for the Citadel.

The BiG10.....well.. Ohio State won, but they're dysfunctional (except for their punter).
Urban best have those boys ready in two weeks.

My prediction for the final four:
Alabama
Clemson
Georgia
Oklahoma

So much for the nostalgia of wanting to see the wishbone brought back....just painful watching the cut blocks thrown by the Citadel.

The good news is that we managed to win the game, both Tua and Hurts looked just fine playing, and the team will be fired up for the Iron Bowl.

The Citadel Twitter feed was golden, though.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...ississippi-state-as-it-battles-the-tide/



Look for the pundits to say Alabama shouldn't be number one because the Citadel scored points.

Well the Bucs pulled it out in overtime but played like a bunch of clumsy high schoolers,,Urban seems to be loosing his touch..

Russ, you said it a lot better than I could (with out cussing).
Oh well.

Folks, it's onto Rivalry Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One more game!

Go Bucks!
And, as always - muck fichigan!

We play the Team Up North Saturday Hope they uncork their head out of their arse for that ..Geez hope I don't have a stroke There was a lot of cussing here last week even the dog was barking at the T.V. but she is a Buckeye pup has a T shirt to prove it

That's awesome, Watson!

The wife is routinely shouting at the Pundits going on about how Alabama shouldn't be in the playoffs even if we're undefeated because the Citadel was scheduled.

Iron Bowl week in Alabama. Nothing else like it in the South!

No matter what happens, this is the game people will talk about all year long in the state.

Heck, Auburn fans have a few more days to say that National Champ or not, Auburn was a better team than Alabama!

Yep, Rivalry Weekend - THE best weekend in college football.

Good espn article to explain to folks not versed in the how's and why's.

http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...llege-football-haters-guide-rivalry-week

My normal routine for rivalry weekend:
9am eat huge breakfast (need a good base)
10am watch College Gameday
12 noon - The Game, first beer (of many)
(I make everyone leave the house - too much cursing)
3:30pm Iron Bowl - always good
7pm too many beers, usually asleep

For those who doubt how seriously we take College football here in the South..

https://www.facebook.com/jamesspann/videos/272207243438617/

They're using helicopters hovering above the field to dry it in Tuscaloosa.

O…H…I…O!!!

I know there are more important things in life than the Ohio State Buckeye’s beating the ever lovin dog crap out of michigan…
…but it’s in my top 5.

Go Bucks! 62-39

I enjoyed watching them get spanked at least the Bucs played like a college team and did well..

Auburn is giving Bama a hard time. Must be a rough time in the Dart house.

Now that I'm sobered up.....there wasn't much anxiety.

While slow and penalty prone, by mid second quarter the Auburn D was breathing through their mouths and putting hands on hips, and their O line was slowing down.

Tua was starting with one second in the pocket to two and then three; it was just a matter of time after that.

Most heart in the game was Auburn's Whitlow - dude has got to be one big bruise, and he kept fighting.

On Michigan/tOSU, Patterson reverted to his Ole Miss ways, getting rattled and sliding short when under sustained pressure. Some of it was his receivers, but he really didn't help them by drilling the ball as hard as he could.

That and tOSU just flat out wanted it more and stayed focused.

Insert as many snarky comments associated with "the number one defense in the country" as you please, but one of them must include the word "exposed."

Notre Dame will be getting exposed in the playoffs. They are a paper tiger just like Michigan.

Notre Dame and Michigan should have never even been in the BCS discussion at all. The whole focus of the BCS seems to be optimizing the television ratings, not having the best four teams play for the championship. I think many college football fans consider next week's conference championships as the real end of the season. There are no games for about a month, then there are about 35 lame bowl games, followed by the BCS (which will be two blow out games and then Alabama vs Clemson).

"Notre Dame and Michigan should have never even been in the BCS discussion at all"

This ^ Ohio State is in same boat. Great players, not a great team. But they beat michigan!!!!!!!

What a fun season to watch!

Now onto the Conference championships.

Four lucky shirt changes, two refills of the whiskey glass, and one time getting the wife angry at me for my unflagging optimism, and Alabama prevails.

All Respect to Saban and the Bamites. The Dawgs gave it their best but they just keep coming up on the short end of the stick. Just have to say that Jalen Hurts is cool under pressure for coming off the bench and pulling that game out for the Tide.
Congrats!!!

S!Blade<><


Go Dawgs!

I am still trying to figure out why Georgia tried a fake punt at that time of the game. I guess it was some river boat gambling. That was a great game though.

B1G for Ohio State..Now the wait to see if anything is next..

Great games yesterday! SEC & Big12 games were fantastic!
BTW, Jalen Hurts would look great in a Miami Dolphin's uniform.

Good win for the buckeye's too! They're talking the Rose Bowl for the Buck's which is more than I expected for the season they played.

And for all the game's played yesterday, we went to this nail-biter. One daughter was happy, the other sad. Me, I went for the tailgating.

I have a fourth post-season game to watch now that UCF is playing LSU.

I normally don't dislike programs, but UCF deserves a beat down after their National Championship claims. The amount of hubris is breathtaking, and LSU better not let me down.

Merry Christmas, Jim Harbaugh....

Wait a second....isn't Perdue the team that smoked "The" Ohio State?

Auburn is on a down year!

Auburn sure put it to Purdue, 63 - 14.

Yep...that's the team that beat Ohio State...

But lost (I think) 3 of their last 5 games. .500 teams should not be in bowl games.

And hard to believe, I actually rooting for michigan. Go BiG10!

Doesn't look good for Michigan down 34-13 in the 4th.

(Chanting SEC SEC SEC)

michigan...

Looks like that might be Harbough's last game at Michigan. He can't win the big one. I'm not sure, but I think it is BIG10 - 2 and SEC - 1 so far.

You can have Urban. He's available Jan 2nd.

Both will go to the NFL. Oh God, Harbaugh as the Lions coach ?! Yet another reason not to watch them.

[Very drunkenly]

Hey Sooners
Hey Sooners
We just beat the hell outta you!
Rammer Jammer
Yellow Hammer
Give 'me Hell, Alabama!

[Now sober]

Oklahoma put up a good game, but I was really disappointed by Coach Riley's comments afterwards. No, Coach, your team did not control the game in the last half; your team did not win the game; and Alabama played out the last minute sitting on the four yard line and took a knee rather than put another seven "sh*ts and giggles" points on the board - so it's not like we had lost all momentum.

From his post-game interview he talked as if they had actually won the game, and Alabama wasn't much of a challenge at all.

Can we now stop the talk about how Alabama "ain't never seen..." or "ain't never played" either an offense or a defense from another team and is therefore a sham waiting to be exposed? I'm looking at you, sports pundits.

On officiating in general this season, while I approve of the approach to let the game play out, what does it take to get a holding (either offense or defense) call? Does a player have to push the helmet off of a player before a flag is thrown (answer - yes, that is what it takes).

In the Orange Bowl it looked like someone announced "couples skate" by the amount of holding going on. And I understand that receivers and safeties will contact each other, full jersey grabs and blatant push-offs should get a flag. Oklahoma's O-Line was using Bama face masks as easy grip handles in several plays, all uncalled, and Bama's O-line did a couple Pro Wrestling takedowns.

On Clemson-Notre Dame, two observations:

1) The difference between "most deserving" and "best" team has never been more evident. But it's an old song; semi-final teams getting completely smoked isn't new. This alone proves that all the calls for an expanded playoff is silly; we'd just see more blowouts.

2) Clemson is super impressive. The level of competition within the ACC isn't exactly an iron gauntlet, and maintaining a standard of excellence seems to me to be actually more, rather than less, difficult in those circumstances. They could easily drift into playing at the level of their opponents rather than playing to their actual potential.

Okay, a third observation: looking across college football, I don't know if there is a good fourth team to challenge either Clemson or Alabama (I fully agree that Oklahoma deserved it's spot). Maybe Georgia, but they did so well against 'Bama because we left Tua in waaaayyyy, waaaayyy too long and let him play injured; but putting in a two loss team above one loss or undefeated ones isn't reasonable.

I have a couple games outside of the national championship that I want to watch: LSU versus UCF, even though six LSU players have bailed out in order to "prepare for the NFL." I don't think LSU is going to sleepwalk into that game like Auburn did last year...and their loss to Troy last year is still fresh enough in their minds. UCF's constant winning and domination of their conference is bad for college football, dontchaknow, as people are suffering from UCF fatigue. Then comes Texas versus Georgia, because that's a great match up....and we get to see the Big 12's theory that all one really needs is an offense to win games tested once again.

> and we get to see the Big 12's theory that all one really needs is an offense to win games tested once again.

This ^^ I don't understand it, or like watching it.

Congrats to Alabama and Clemson on the wins, but (yawn) the odds-makers were right.
Think it would be better to just pick the two top teams and let them battle it out on New Year's night.
The current playoff format is/has been quite boring. And I don't think expanding it would fix it.

So just so I am clear, you have a problem with that statement, but not Coach Saban saying, "The only time we really got stopped was when we stopped ourselves with penalties and a couple of missed assignments and broken plays."?

Agree Dart the officiating was not the greatest. Sometimes even seemed biased.

Biased against which team?

Nope, not when one wins the game. And notice Saban's statement is more critical of his own team than Oklahoma's. It is pretty clear to anyone who watched the game that self inflicted penalties cost Alabama one touchdown and that a second was deferred out of pity.

It's not like Oklahoma lost in overtime due to a field goal, or a last minute pick play, or even by three. They were soundly defeated, and to make it out like they actually won the game is ridiculous.

Saban actually had more praise for Oklahoma in his press conference than Riley had for Alabama in his.



Pick a series! It was roundly uneven to where one could claim bias either way. More than once I said "that's a flag" on Alabama, but none was thrown. And other times cried out "Oh, c'mon, throw it!" on Oklahoma but the flag stayed inside the waistband. Lots of shenanigans on the line was just ignored.

Alright. Arrogance, ignorance and hypocrisy on your part. I like it! I apologize in advance, I have no tolerance for that behavior so I am rather brash in those instances and respond in kind.

As far as the officiating, it's the playoffs, let the team's play and with attitude. I liked it. Both teams got their shots in, but there were a couple of bad decisions made on the replays, but that's just how it goes in football, especially at the collegiate level.

So let's' take Coach Saban's statement of "The only time we really stopped ourselves was with penalties and a couple of missed assignments and broken plays."

So after Alabama got up 28-0, Oklahoma scored on their very next position to make it 28-7. Did Alabama get lax on defensive intensity given the score? A NIck Saban coached team? In a playoff game? Hell no unless you are disrespecting Coach Saban. What actually happened there Oklahoma after waiting way too long, finally started helping the freshman center, Creed Humphrey, double team Quinnen Williams with Oklahoma's right guard, Dru Samia and that's when Oklahoma started producing on offense. On why Oklahoma waited so long to make the change where a freshman center was getting lt up by the nation's best defensive tackle is beyond me. Anyway, that was the setup for Oklahoma's first touchdown. Another change Oklahoma made was benching the injured Marquise Brown who should have never played in the first place with Charleston Rambo. Brown had 5 uncontested drops and couldn't even run crisp routes, so no idea why they kept him in there as the whole "decoy" philosophy is always foolish in football.

I have read some comments about how Alabama took it easy after going up 28-0. Well, After Alabama got up 28-0 and then Oklahoma scored to make it 28-7, this was Alabama's very next possession:

Ua 1-10 at Ua25 ALABAMA drive start at 11:48.
Ua 1-10 at Ua25 UA ball on UA21.
Ua 1-10 at Ua21 Tua Tagovailoa pass incomplete to Jaylen Waddle.
Ua 2-10 at Ua21 Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Henry Ruggs III for no gain to the UA21 (Kelly, Caleb).
Ua 3-10 at Ua21 Tua Tagovailoa pass incomplete to DeVonta Smith.
Ua 4-10 at Ua21 Mike Bernier punt 34 yards to the OU45, Lamb, CeeDee return 5 yards to the 50 yardline (Ale Kaho;Markail Benton).

So where is Alabama getting conservative there? They were all passes and not a single run play. Where are the penalties that allegedly stopped Alabama? Blaming it on missed assignments and broken plays? That's football! Sometimes the opposing team makes plays on defense, that's how it works.


So let's take a look at the other possession where Alabama punted:

Ua 1-10 at Ua25 ALABAMA drive start at 09:42.
Ua 1-10 at Ua25 Josh Jacobs rush for 7 yards to the UA32 (Bolton, Curtis).
Ua 2-3 at Ua32 Josh Jacobs rush for 2 yards to the UA34, out-of-bounds (Murray, Kenneth).
Ua 3-1 at Ua34 Josh Jacobs rush for 6 yards to the UA40, 1ST DOWN UA (Fields, Patrick;Norwood, Tre).
Ua 1-10 at Ua40 Tua Tagovailoa rush for 4 yards to the UA44 (Murray, Kenneth).
OU Injury - #72 A.Bledsoe (assisted off field)
Ua 2-6 at Ua44 Josh Jacobs rush for 9 yards to the OU47, 1ST DOWN UA (Kelly, Caleb).
OU Injury - #18 C.Bolton (walks off on own)
Ua 1-10 at Ou47 Tua Tagovailoa rush for loss of 6 yards to the UA47 (Kelly, Caleb).
Ua 2-16 at Ua47 Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Irv Smith Jr. for 6 yards to the OU47 (Norwood, Tre).
Ua 3-10 at Ou47 Tua Tagovailoa pass incomplete to Jerry Jeudy (Motley, Parnell).
Play reviewed. Call overturned, incomplete pass.
Ua 4-10 at Ou47 Mike Bernier punt 22 yards to the OU25, out-of-bounds.


Again, where are the penalties that had Alabama allegedly stopping themselves? Again, not there in that possession either.


Alabama only had one possession where penalties had an impact and that is when they had to take the field goal instead of the touchdown near the end of the half and here is the plays on that possession:

Ua 1-10 at Ua25 ALABAMA drive start at 07:30.
Ua 1-10 at Ua25 Josh Jacobs rush for 2 yards to the UA27 (Bledsoe, Amani;Perkins, Ronnie).
Ua 2-8 at Ua27 Josh Jacobs rush for 9 yards to the UA36, 1ST DOWN UA (Fields, Patrick).
Ua 1-10 at Ua36 Josh Jacobs rush for 7 yards to the UA43 (Fields, Patrick).
Ua 2-3 at Ua43 Josh Jacobs rush for 13 yards to the OU44 (Fields, Patrick;Bolton, Curtis), PENALTY UA holding (J. Wills Jr.) 10 yards to the UA33, NO PLAY.
Ua 2-13 at Ua33 Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to DeVonta Smith for 12 yards to the UA45.
Ua 3-1 at Ua45 Josh Jacobs at QB for Alabama.
Direct snap.
Ua 3-1 at Ua45 Josh Jacobs rush for 7 yards to the OU48, 1ST DOWN UA (Bolton, Curtis).
Ua 1-10 at Ou48 Tua Tagovailoa at QB for Alabama.
Ua 1-10 at Ou48 Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Jaylen Waddle for 11 yards to the OU37, 1ST DOWN UA (Fields, Patrick).
Ua 1-10 at Ou37 Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Josh Jacobs for 9 yards to the OU28, out-of-bounds.
Ua 2-1 at Ou28 Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Jerry Jeudy for 4 yards to the OU24, 1ST DOWN UA (Brown, Tre).
Ua 1-10 at Ou24 Najee Harris rush for 5 yards to the OU19 (Murray, Kenneth;Norwood, Tre).
Ua 2-5 at Ou19 Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Najee Harris for 4 yards to the OU15 (Fields, Patrick).
Ua 3-1 at Ou15 Timeout Oklahoma, clock 01:21.
Ua 3-1 at Ou15 PENALTY UA false start (J. Wills Jr.) 4 yards to the OU19.
Ua 3-5 at Ou19 Timeout Alabama, clock 01:21.
Ua 3-5 at Ou19 Tua Tagovailoa pass complete to Irv Smith Jr. for 19 yards to the OU0, clock 01:14, PENALTY UA IF (J. Wills Jr.) 5 yards to the OU24, NO PLAY.
Ua 3-10 at Ou24 Tua Tagovailoa rush for 9 yards to the OU15 (Mann, Kenneth).
Ua 4-1 at Ou15 PENALTY UA false start (Damien Harris) 5 yards to the OU20.
Ua 4-6 at Ou20 Joseph Bulovas field goal attempt from 38 GOOD, clock 00:25.



Now let's take a look at your comment regarding Coach Riley:

"No, Coach, your team did not control the game in the last half; your team did not win the game; and Alabama played out the last minute sitting on the four yard line and took a knee rather than put another seven "sh*ts and giggles" points on the board - so it's not like we had lost all momentum. From his post-game interview he talked as if they had actually won the game, and Alabama wasn't much of a challenge at all."


And here is the exact quote from Coach Riley:

"It was just a complete tale of two games. I mean, they completely outplayed us early and then we completely outplayed them pretty much the rest of the way.”

After Alabama went up 28-0, Oklahoma out-scored Alabama 34-17 the rest of the game. That's a mathematical fact. It's a fact that Oklahoma out-played Alabama the rest of the way. With that said, it doesn't matter because it's a 4 quarter ball game and Alabama dominated the first quarter and that determined the outcome of the game, well that, and Alabama simply being the better team. That was the case going into the game, in the game and then after the game. Everyone knew that.

However, if you think Oklahoma got "smoked", you really do suck at math. Do you know how many teams in college football history have come back from 21 to 24 point deficits over the years? Too many to count


Here are some that are even greater than that off the top of my head and isn't even remotely close to a comprehensive list as it numbers in the 900s somewhere:

In 2017, UCLA was down by 34 points to ATM and came back and won.
In 2017, TCU was down by 31 points to Oregon and came back and won.
in 2010, Auburn was down by 24 points to Alabama and came back and won. #%&*$# you Cam Newton!
In 2006, Texas Tech was down by 28 polints to Minnesota and came back and won.
In 2006, Michigan St. was down by 35 points to Northwestern and came back and won.
In 2001, Marshal was down by 30 points to East Carolina and came back and won.
In 1989, Ohio St. was down by 31 points and Ohio St. came back and won.
In 1984, Maryland was down by 31 points to Miami and came back and won.


So an 11 point lead isn't jack crap in the game of football. As far as Alabama's last possession. One, there is no proof they would score there as turnovers and penalties can happen but more importantly, it was a two possession game with just a little over a minute to go. Coaches that aren't dumb know you take a knee there. It would be pretty stupid to run a meaningless play and end up getting your starting QB or RB injured in the closing seconds of the game. That's how it's been done, well, forever.

Coach Saban is the greatest coach in college football history, but he is a poor winner and a poor loser. His comments after the loss to Ohio St. in the semi-final about Alabama players thinking about the NFL instead of playing call and Alabama fan comments about Alabama not caring about the Sugar Bowl game against Oklahoma in the 2013 season were laughable. If that was the case, why was Alabama's players jumping around like mad men on the opening kickoff when they drilled Oklahoma's return man, Roy Finch, at the 20 yard line? Why was A.J. McCarron running down the field like a little school girl after his first TD pass in that game?

One thing that does baffle me though, I'm surprised Alabama players want to play at Alabama since Alabama fans worship Bear Bryant like he's God, despite the fact that he was a big time racist. Yeah, yeah, he was concerned due to Governor Wallace in Alabama and him being a segregationist. It's a nice story and all but is BS and doesn't hold water. What was his excuse at Kentucky and ATM? The answer is, there wasn't one, he just was a racist. Of course after he got his butt kicked by USC, well, that changed things for him and that's when it was apparently OK to field blacks on the collegiate grid-iron. And Alabama football must be proud of being a product of having a 25% black population base to have that level of talent they do as well as the surrounding Slave Eastern Conference states. But let's act like that's not a factor in Alabama's success. Granted, that's not all of it, you have to have a darn good coach as well but college football is 75% talent and 25% coaching.


Now with that all out of the way, Clemson's very solid on defense as usual, but Alabama hasn't had problems scoring on them even with their previously more run orientated teams. This Alabama team will beat Clemson decisively as Brent Venables has always had a weakness on his defense and that's over the middle against his linebackers. Normally, that's covered up by their great defensive fronts, but Alabama can really take advantage here with their #%&*$# good offensive line and Irv Smith over the middle. This Alabama offense greatly exceeds what Clemson has faced the last few times. Additionally, Clemson's offense isn't near the threat it was in some prior matchups. Trevor Lawrence is a great QB and a solid runner, but is no Deshaum Watson. Also, Notre Dame was the best defense Clemson has faced this season and Clemson only had 3 points to start and then Notre Dame's Julian Love was injured and Clemson immediately attacked that side of the field and then bam, 27-3. Then Love came back in and Clemson didn't score again and it wasn't due to them being conservative with the lead, Love was just that good and when out, created a gaping hole in the Notre Dame defense.

Alabama wins this one decisively and completes the season as the best Alabama team in history and what I think is the best team in college football history. If Tua was 100%, Alabama would have eventually rolled Georgia in the SEC title game. Just look what a healthy Hurts did in a short amount of time in that game. Some people like to say the Miami 2001 team, but while loaded with draft picks, they were in a battle with both Boston College and Virginia Tech in the final 2 minutes and in the national title game against Nebraska, sure, they blew them out, but Nebraska already got rolled in their final game of the season against Colorado something like 63 to 36. Others like to point out the 1995 Nebraska team, but their 17 point win over a 4-8 Washington St. squad wasn't very impressive. They were great outside of that though.

You started the trash and I just finished it. I'm the guy that knows what I am talking about; you must be the other guy.*

P.S.: Yes, I'm a prick.