No Love for Tide...

national media loves the Irish...
alabama prepares for number 15

     The only thing left that the media can do is to get the Pope to bless the Irish. Why not? It seems that everyone else in the known world has decided that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are going to win the National Title.  The wordsmith guys have said all they can about how great this Irish team has become. It seems that fate and destiny are starting in the Irish backfield. There are two things that are abundantly clear when you watch the talking heads - the first is that they have made this game all about Notre Dame. The second is they have made it well known they hope Notre Dame beats Alabama. The Crimson Tide is almost an afterthought if you watch and read the national media. Look, I get it. Notre Dame is a storied football program. There is a less than transparent effort on the part many to slant things in a Dublin direction. As an Alabama fan all I can say is "bring it on". We may not be the Las Vegas underdog, but except for part of the State of Alabama there is a universal hope the Tide loses. 

      If you love football you have to respect Notre Dame. The last time the Indiana school won a national championship was 1988. That means in the collective memories of any college football player the name Notre Dame is ancient history. Notre Dame hopes it can revive their legacy into something recognized by the average teenager. Personally, I've always like the Irish. They are just like us in many regards and I respect that. For all the puffing and bragging by each side, there remains one truth. That would be that no one knows who will win this game and in all fairness who should be favored. Odds don't mean a lot in a one game season. Coaching, players, and preparation are what matters. Many of the Alabama players are running on the field with 2 BCS championships under their belts. Their coach is the master of causing disaster to opposing teams. When you  give Nick Saban a month to prepare for a game is almost unfair. Remember this however  - there was only one undefeated team left standing when the regular season was over and it wasn't the Tide. Regardless of how close some of the Irish games were against less than sterling opponents they won each one. You cannot discount that. The game on Monday night is not going to be a walk in the park for Alabama or Notre Dame. Whoever walks off that field is going to be happy or sad with nothing in between.

      Don't discount the Notre Dame coaching. Brian Kelly has proved just how good a coach he is, and whether Notre Dame wins or loses he is going to be an almost consensus coach of the year. That doesn't mean he's a better coach than Nick Saban. In fact, he only has to be a better coach one time.  Literally anything can happen in a one game season. If you listen to the national pundits it is almost like its the good guys versus the bad guys. Good - that is exactly what Alabama needs in this game. You can put ALL THE SPOTLIGHT on the Irish for all I care. We don't need any distractions to cause us problems. I have to admit to my admiration of Monti Te'o. His story is heartwarming. It is a great storyline for the game and for any person's life.  Number 5 is one heck of a football player and person. C.J. Mosley is also one heck of a player and person. His decision to return next season brightened the hearts of Tide fans. There are so many compelling stories surrounding all the players of this game you could write a book. The only difference is that Notre Dame players are getting the attention and Alabama isn't. I think I understand more what my grandfather told me about Alabama going to play in that first Rose Bowl. We were country bumpkins, swamp rats, rejects, and inferior to the rest of the nation. We didn't belong. Flash forward to the present and it is almost like Alabama is just in the way of another great Irish story. Most of the nation hopes the Tide plays the part of the sacrificial lamb being led to slaughter.

      All of the stories are well and good, but I suspect that when Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide team takes the field blocking and tackling are going to be more important. I think Alabama has the edge in experience in big games. They probably have the majority of good players on the field. Notre Dame is close though. It would be easy to speculate that a redshirt freshman isn't going to win a big game against Alabama's defense. Johnny Football proved that wrong. Is Gholson as good as Manziel?  I don't think anyone is as good as Manziel was this season. That's not the question in my mind. The question is whether Gholson can be good enough on one night for four quarters to beat Alabama. I think he has that ability. I know that Alabama has played one team this season that has almost as much national recognition as Notre Dame. Michigan got humiliated with a senior quarterback.

       When you get down to the bottom line it isn't which team has the best history, or who is the most loved, or who we hope to win. It is a simple matter of which team plays well enough to win one game. In a one game season I'd always pick Alabama and Nick Saban. We may not have the blessing of the Pope but we have the best coach in college football. I believe football is a more secular than heavenly.  Bama by 11.

    

Louisville whips Florida 33-23

no surprise in my mind...
florida rolls over for the Cardinals

       

       Don't count me as surprised that Louisville beat Florida. I haven't been impressed with this Florida team all season. You can walk on a tight rope only so long before you fall. The Gators had pulled off more "miracles" to win games this season that any other SEC team. They came back time and time again to win. They seemingly always trailed only to let their superior athletes pull them out of the fire. Last night it didn't happen. I thought going in to the game that Louisville had the better team. I knew they had the best quarterback on the field, and Will Muschamp wasn't anywhere near the best coach. Muschamps tenure at Florida is going to take some heat for not having his team ready. I don't believe that. The Florida offense is not up to SEC standards. Per their usual MO the Gators fell behind early. Unlike most previous outings there was no comeback, or anything that approximated a comeback. The game started in the first half with a Louisville pick 6. The second half started with a "guess which head coach knows he's beat" onside kick. Louisville was ready and covered the kick  The very next play Teddy Bridgewater tossed a touchdown pass to let Florida know the game was over.

       It hasn't been a banner year for the SEC in the post season. None of that means anything about Alabama's chances in the National Championship game, or does it? Certainly, the invincibility of the SEC has been fractured. Mississippi State looked inept against Northwestern. You know Northwestern don't you? They are the Kentucky of Big Ten football. Georgia finally took care of Nebraska but let the Cornhuskers score 31 points in the process. That caused me to think that Georgia's defense wasn't all it was cracked up to be, or maybe the Tide's offense wasn't as great as we all thought. Clemson rocked LSU proving that Les Miles isn't the second best coach in the SEC. I still can't believe that LSU folded against an ACC Clemson team. That was the biggest black eye for the SEC in the 2013 season. At least South Carolina took care of Michigan even if it took a late TD. Conner Shaw was on the sidelines and the Gamecocks came back to win SEC style.

        The question in the minds of many SEC fans, myself included, is whether the SEC is overrated. I don't think the SEC is as good this season as last That year the SEC had to two best teams in college football. Either Alabama or LSU would have won the National Championship with little trouble. So now we have this Notre Dame question. Is Notre Dame better than we think, and is Alabama not nearly as as we hope. I don't really believe that what has happened to other SEC teams has anything to do with the upcoming game. Florida was terribly overrated and they have an offense that makes Auburn's offense look good by comparasion. Mississippi State was already on the skids and showed the worse wasn't reached in the regular season. Georgia won but didn't look particularly good in doing so. South Carolina came back to win despite incompetant officiating, including to most laughable measurement for a first down in college football history. That game will always be known for the Clowney tackle. That was an SEC hit.

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Like a yard dog...

irish have been snorting the pixie dust...
alabama is going to destroy notre dame

  I've been watching a lot of Notre Dame replays lately. I'm thinking that Midwestern sportswriters have been doing way to many lines of leprechaun pixie dust. Apparently, one of the job requirements to be a sports writer up there is to have no objectivity. The other must be visual impairment is a must. I
have never seen more ridiculous observations. Here are some my favorites about upcoming National Championship Game.  Some defy logical explanation. Some are just an example of Phillip Marshall reporting when was supposedly an unbiased reporter for the Huntsville Times.

• The Irish have played the toughest schedule in America. Whoever wrote that was dropped on their head at birth. In looking at the "rigorous" Irish schedule a few things stick out. Although Navy has been a pretty good footbal team of late, this year's edition was not a good team.  Purdue is never a good team, and at 6-6 show how ludicrious it is for writers to say the Irish have played six bowl team. The Irish beat Michigan 13-6 and was on the recieving end of 6 turnovers to help them. We played the Wolverines a couple of weeks earlier. What was that score? The big win over Miami turned out to be a dude. The 'Canes had 5 loses. Stanford is a very good football team. How that Stanford touchdown  was no upheld is simply beyond belief. BYU still plays football? I wasn't aware. 17-14 over a 8-5 team that might be called average. Michgan State was was 7-6. Pitt missed a last second field goal to lose in South Bend. The Irish won that one in OT. Same for the Stanford game. Credit where credit is due when the Irish beat Oklahoma in Norman. The score  was 30-13. It seems like a rout when you see the score, but in reality it was a much closer gaem. The score was 13-13 with 5:00 minutes left.  But the Irish won. This is there best win. The Irish traveled to Boston to take on national power BC and won 21-6. The beanboys finished the year at a strong 2-10. Wake Forest was next and the Irish handled them with ease. They should have. The Demon Decs had a 5-7 record when all was said and done. And then there was the Southern Cal game. Mighty Southern Cal. They had lost their starting quarterback, started a true freshman. It showed. The Irish won  22-13. Southern Cal was inside the 10 twice in the last five minutes and failed to score. But the Irish won. The Trojans ended up being the first #1 team in AP poll history to have 6 losses the next season.
• Notre Dame has played teams with much better offenses than Alabama - what? Did the Irish scrimmage Indianapolis Colts and we didn't know about it. I honestly don't know what to say about that comical statement. I don't think BC, WF, Navy, BYU, Purdue, or Michigan State could have won a game in the SEC except for Auburn or Kentucky.
• Notre Dame is has the greatest defense in College Football - they might well be. Who would we know?  When you play Snow White and the Seven Dwarf it is difficult to make an objective opinion. I do think they Irish have a good defense, but they haven't seen an offensive line like the Tide. In all fairness, it is hard to go undeated and not have a good offense or defense. But the greatest.  Show me first and I'll become a believer.
• Evertte Gholson is a scrambling quarterback and Bama can't beat quarterbacks who have that type game.  But being highly mobile it might mean several things. Such a quarterback might mean he can't make the reads, he holds the ball too long, and the offfensive line can't pass block. If I had to bet it would be that Gholson might have a long hard January 7, 2013.
• God favors the Irish. That reminds me of the old joke about the Irish boxer who always crossed himself while getting off his corner stool. A spectator asked a priest if that really helps? The priest replied, "sure, if you have a good jab".
• The SEC and Alabama in particular is overrated. This history of the BCS sure backs up that statement, right? How funny is that?

      In trying to be objective I would say the SEC is not as good top to bottom as usual. Mississippi State had some end of the year problems. South Carolina had some key injuries but are still a darn good team. What can you say about AU. Arkansas had some unique problems that carried over to the season. Missouri isn't ready for SEC Football. Kentucky is just Kentucky. Tennessee was bad.

     On the other hand,Vandy picked up the pace, and Texas AM surprised everyone, including Alabama. Florida snapped back to big time football.Georgia showed you could teach new tricks to an old dog. Ole Miss was vastly improved by seasons end. LSU was really good but their quarterbacking was suspect.

      Then you have to consider the Coaching in the SEC.  Is there a better coach in the nation thant Nick Saban?  I seriously doubt. Les Miles is a great coach regardless of some rather odd mannerism. HF has Ole Miss on the road. The Coach, Steve Spurrier is pretty good isn't he. Let me ask this another way - how many bad coaches were there in the SEC. Heck, one snared a national championship and wasn't deemed worthy.

Note: prior to posting this blog both LSU and Mississippi State lost their bowl game.

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Tide falls to Mercer 66-59

tide humiliated at home by mercer
loss sets the stage for a long and miserable season

       Mercer? Seriously?  Alabama losses at home to Mercer? I don't want to hear any of this analysis about the Bears having a lot of upperclass leadership. For those who say my negative articles are annoying go be annoyed. We can talk about a momumental upset. That didn't happen. The best team won. This loss makes the VCU game pale by comparison. This is not one of those losses that will cause a head coach to lose his job. It is one of those games that people are going to seriously question whether Anthony Grant is the man for the job In my mind he still is the coach we need. If he can find a couple of decent JuCo inside players things will change quickly.


          Let me be clear about this loss. It wasn't the loss that was so bad, but rather the manner in which we kicked away a win. Alabama had to reach deep within themselves to find a way to lose this one. In the last 30 minutes the Tide gave up 32 points to a decent mid-level team. Last week it was blowing a 20 point lead on the road to Texas Tech. I'm well aware that home teams like Tech can make comebacks.  This game it was a twelve point lead at home, and we had the ball. We couldn't mount a comeback.  This type of loss is simply unacceptable for our program. Tide fans will not be patient with the type of effort they saw in Coleman on Saturday.

        I didn't post this blog yesterday. I wanted to give  some long reflection and try to put it  observations into some type of perspective. This loss is as bad as it gets for a major division one program. Mercer was just a better team. They made  fewer floor mistakes, they moved the ball well on offense, their defense was good, and their game plan was excellent. You have to lay this one on Grant.  No question about it. His team just didn't seem ready for a slugfest.  Here are two words that Tide fans never want to hear - "Bama choked". Two games in succession the Tide has gagged. Earlier we had a big enough lead to hang on. On Saturday we just gave up. We gave up 34 points in the first 30 minutes and then quit, or fell apart. I know our team is young, we have gaps in our recruiting, one player quit, two are injured, and we have no inside game. All of that is understandable, if not liked. But what I witnessed in the last 10  minutes of game was almost inconcievable. We got run off our home floor by a team that had one player who might make our starting five. A local sports announcer and I had a long talk before the season started. He has been watching Alabama basketball for a long time. He laid out the perfect storm which would sink this team, and he got it exactly right.  The problems have started coming through - no inside game, poor shooting, Pollard isn't advancing  quickly enough to help, and we have defensive lapses. I could see all of those things, but honestly I didn't foresee the poor defense. Anthony Grant just teams don't play bad defense. For ten minutes last night I was correct. The Tide didn't play bad defense, they played horrible defense. For those who are counting that is two of the worst halves an Alabama basketball team has played in my memory.

         The game will cause a lot of anti-Grant sentiment to grow. I believe Grant owes the Tide fans an explanation of how he intends to dig his team out fo this mess. In retrospect, this all started with the loss of Carl Engstrom. It wasn't that Engstrom is a great player but he filled a need Bama hasn't filled. I doubt they can this season. Help is on the way, and one season doesn't define a career or a program. No doubt this is highly disappointing to Tide fans. Tide fans will accept losing.They can't and won't accept in the half hearted sloppy manner we all saw yesterday. Losing to Mercer is just not acceptable. The scary part is that this may be the start of something truly awful. For Grant, the goal is not to win a division championship or even make the NCAA. The new goal is to help the team find themselves and then we'll see what happens.

BCS has one crowing jewel...

National Championship Game saves the BCS this season...

Northern Illinois is a controversial selection

Northern Illinois a party crasher?

      In college basketball the post season championship gives us several teams unlikely to win the tournament. We don't call those teams terrible selections. We call them Cinderalla teams. I've often wondered why the same doesn't hold true for the BCS games? I think it is because football is about money. Don't get me wrong, the NCAA Tournament is about money. A lot of money, but not sinfulfully big money like what has happened in "amateur" college football. The money is so big that the sport is getting lost in the gold rush. I have to say that I was gratified to see that poll voters didn't vote down Northern Illinois to insure they were left out. I personally remember cheering for Boise State against Oklahoma when the Bronco's selection was questioned.  That is still one of the best games I have ever seen. The last play of that game is on instant replay in my mind. But one thing college football and big money television will not allow. Cinderella will never have a chance to play for the national championship. It simply will not happen. Northern Illinois playing Florida State for a national championship would draw ratings equal to a paint drying contest. What does Florida State have to gain from a bowl game. The short answer is nothing. A loss would be embarrassing but hardly fatal to the program as both Oklahoma and Georgia can attest. We all remember the  Huskies the Tide 16-13 in 2003. So it would be unfair to say the NIU doesn't have some credentials to play in the BCS. I bet it wlll be the least watched of the BSC games this season.

 

Alabama/Notre Dame is dream pairing for college football

 

     I know that every fan thinks there school is special. Ohio State fans are bragging they could beat either Alabama or Notre Dame. Oregon is saying the same thing. Alabama and Notre Dame could easily be considered the top programs in college history. The Fighting Irish and the Crimson Tide are the benchmarks of NCAA football. Midwestern fans will say it is the Irish and Southern fans, some begrudgingly, will say it is 'Bama. Between the two schools they claim a total of 25 national championships. The Tide has 14 and the Irish lay claim to 11. In recent years the Irish had fallen victim to some tough seasons. The truth is that a lack of conference affiliation  and modern facilities took their toll. The dead period lasted so long that most high school players outside the Midwest really know nothing about the Irish. To most top players they were another team. That's why this season has been so important to their program. The Irish are second in some national recruiting rankings.

 

        Alabama went through a period of solid but not spectacular football. Here's an interesting fact. Every coach since Paul Bryant has had at least on 10 win season. 10 wins seems  to be the entry level to excellence. So in some ways the Tide retained a lot of their historic importance when their program was considered down. Down is a relative term. Most colleges would have loved to had Alabama's record during that period. To  a lot of younger fans the Nick Saban era is what it is all about. But in truth the legacy of Tide football goes back 8 decades. Alabama football was just as important before Bear Bryant . I think a fair statement would be that Alabama's consistency dates back to the 1920's and has rarely fallen since. There are several programs that would argue th ey belong in the top two, but Michigan, Southern California, Texas, Penn State and Ohio State just don't have the championships. After all it is about championships isn't it. Here's how great Bama's program is - we win the SEC Championship and would have "bad" season if we don't win the national championship. In fact, any season when Alabama doesn't win the national crown is disappointing and suspect.
 
        Bowl games have been reduced to almost nothing. They really don't matter. I guess the winner of one of the bowl games in the BCS rota could move up to #2. I am not sure any coach could sell being second or third. But I have to give credit to the BCS selection process. There have been very few arguments about who should be playing in the big game. There have been a plethera of arguments about how the two teams got to number 1 and 2, but really no dispute they deserved being there. If the BCS goal was to get the top two teams on the field it has been mission accomplished.

       When you look back at the history of the BSC this year's game has to be the best match up ever. All you fans at other teams can start your arguments right now. And you know what?  You'd be wrong. You'd be very wrong. There has never been a BCS championship game with this much hype. This is the game where the bery best two teams in college football are going to strap on their chin straps and settle matters about who has been the all time best in college football history. Alabama is still a 9.5 point favorite. Favorites generally win this game. Alabama hasn't played a team like Notre Dame this season. But I believe Alabama has played several teams as good or better than the Irish. I know that Notre Dame hasn't played anyone in the same zip code of the Tide. One thing is certain - this game is one for the ages.
       
 

      



    

    

one of saban's best...
reality is better than luck...

 

               I've been giving a lot of thought to where the Alabama win over the Georgia Bulldogs ranks in the Tide's storied football history.  I'm not going to try compare wins in different eras. In reality there is no way to "prove" what the best Alabama win. I don't think the win over Georgia was anywhere near one of the most important wins in school history.It certainly was one of the most important wins in recent school history, but in all fairness to other teams it probably doesn't compare with the Tide's historic win over Penn when eastern football was considered the best in America. It isn't has important as Alabama's win over Washington in the 1930 Rose Bowl. Those two games took Southern football from an afterthought to the forefront of American college football. Those two games were settled on the field, and no longer could biased football writers claim that Southern football was inferior. Alabama went from being a team of a "swamp rats" infested team to the King of College football history. This last SEC Championship would not have happened if it had not been for the landmark wins of the past.

Saban's best win under pressure at Bama...

              In placing the win in importance of the modern era football wins I still don't think it is the best 'Bama win. Under Nick Saban it is almost assuredly the greatest win of all. Why would I say that?  Three times the Tide got up off that canvas and finally prevailed to win the SEC Championship and the opportunity to win national title number 15. Alabama found itself in the rare position of the entirety of college football hoping for a Georgia win. For a time in the game itself it seemed that even Fate itself was on the side of the Bulldogs. Nicki Saban doesn't believe in fate if my guess is correct. He believes that his process trumps fate at every turn. A.J. McCarron, who was considered the second best quarterback on the field in Atlanta that night brought his Crimson teammates from the brink of defeat to a conference championship. Eddie Lacy, who has always been the second violin to other Tide running backs proved he has a rightful place with the elite of the elite. T.J. Yeldon shows every sign of joining that group in the future. Barrett Jones, fighting through pain and adversity of a leg injury knock down Georgia's defensive line time and time again. C.J. Mosley, surely the most underrated linebacker in the NCAA, made a monumental play to deflect a pass that beat the Dogs when it seem for all the world that fate might beat process. Jesse Williams, decorated with more tattoos than humanly possible came back on the field to stop the Georgia running game. Most players would have called it a day with his injury. Not the Aussie. Excuse me, the Alabama nose guard who proved that football players come from all points and directions to play at the Capstone.

the luck of the Irish...


       Alabama didn't play its best game of the season. Georgia probably did play their top game and the Tide still won. In the final analysis it doesn't matter that the game was tighter than a tick. Only the score matters.Alabama players won a lot of personal victories on the field that afternoon, but more importantly the cohesion of their effort produced a win. I bet that a 15th National Championship is going to follow. I don't believe in the luck of the Irish. I believe in blocking and tackling. There is no better coach in America than teaching his players those things. Alabama has a method to win called the process to get them where they are today.  The Irish have had a magical season. We need to remember that in the end magic isn't real. Luck isn't real,  but Nick Saban is. 

C.J. Mosely gets it done

c.j. mosley, an all-american...



Crunch Time for Tennessee

       C.J. Mosley wasn't in the running for the Heisman Trophy. He didn't grow up in an exotic state like Hawaii. There isn't much surfing down in Theodore, Alabama. I'm not saying the C.J. grew up the hard scrabble life, but Mobile County is not exactly exotic. Two great linebackers from diverse backgrounds are going have a little showdown in the BSC National Championship game. I've watched Te'o play a couple of games on television. He's good. According the rest of the world he is the greatest thing since Kava. If you have been to Hawaii understand what I mean. Let me tell you that C.J. Mosley isn't chopped liver. He has all the skills of a great linebacker. I seem to remember him intercepting a few passes. He has run three back for touchdowns. He has one thing that Te'o that doesn't have. Mosley has blazing speed for a linebacker. Heck, he's got speed that wouldn't be bad for running back. Te'o might be better than Mosley but I've got see it myself.

              By all accounts, this will be a game within a game. A little bit country and a little rock n' roll? Theodore, Alabama has 6100 hardy souls. Honolulu has around 900,000. In Honolulu you have Diamond Head, Pearl Harbor, and one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Theodore has Bellingrath Gardens and C.J. Mosley.


The stats:

• 2 interceptions,
• 2 fumble recoveries 
• 99 tackles
• 8 tackles for losses
• 4 sacks
• 5 pass break ups

         Those are beyond just being solid. Keep in mind that C.J. doesn't play in certain packages, and is not a middle linebacker. Bama has a legacy of great linebackers. Mosley does credit to that lineage. Nico Johnson and Trey DePriest make a formidable trio for Notre Dame. The big guys up front will fight the Irish offensive line to a standstill and the linebackers and corners will hopefully finish off the job of bringing down the running backs. Evertte Golson, their quarterback, has scrambled to some big plays in key situations. If Te'o is considered the best linebacker in college football what does that make Mosely?  Here's what I think - after the national championship game is over their will be great deal of reconsidering exactly who is the best linebacker. I suspect a lot of sports writers will think he is wearing Crimson and White. They might never admit it. Mosley won't care. He'll be holding up the Crystal for all the world to see.