ALABAMA WINS THE SEC...

     We witnessed the greatest quarterback dual in the history of College Football. Kyle Trask is a great quarterback. Mac Jones is better. It was a night that saw the University of Alabama team win its 11th SEC football game in one season. That is a record that will likely stand forever. In the most challenging conference NCAA conference, the Tide withstood every test. None was as more brutal than the 52-46 over Florida. 

     Think about it this way; Alabama beat every team in the SEC except Vanderbilt and South Carolina. Those would have easy wins. Now, the Tide turns its focus to the College Football Playoff. On Sunday, the Selection Committee will pick the four participants. Alabama will be number one. Clemson will rightfully be number two. I have no concrete idea which teams three and four will be. Whoever they pick will be controversial. Let the arguments begin.

     Final thought: Has there ever been three players who are worthy of winning the Heisman Trophy on one team? 

 'Bama seems ready to win the SEC...

 

  On Saturday night, the Crimson Tide takes on the Florida Gators in a much-anticipated conference game. I'll be honest; my feelings. 

Can Jones win the Heisman tonight?

about a championship game remains. If Alabama should lose the game, they will be 10-1. Florida will be 9-2. I rest my case. The Las Vegas experts set the line at 14 at the beginning of the week. The number is now 17.5 as of noon on Friday. 

  I haven't seen a single sportswriter pick Florida to win. Anonymous coaches have voiced in (kind of) and said that 'Bama is going to win. Some said it would be a mudhole type game. Have you seen a single prediction that doesn't show the Tide beating that line? I haven't.

THE HEISMAN HYPE

  One of the sidebars attached to the game is the Heisman Trophy competition. Initially, it was a Trask vs. Jones scenario. After the LSU win over Florida, the media has been projecting a Jones and Smith model. The ACC is pushing Trevor Lawrence. My gut feeling is Lawrence would need a career game against Notre Dame to win, and Jones would play a lousy game. Jones hasn't shown any reason to think he'd stump his toe on Saturday night. The Big Mac attack had a masterful game running plays against Arkansas. The Hogs dropped eight in the box and gave up over 50. It could have been more, a lot more. 

SMITH IS THE BEST 

 

Or will Devonta Smith win the Heisman?

 I think Devonta Smith is the best college player in the NCAA. He has redefined the wide receiver position. Smitty does so with seemingly little effort. The slim-reaper is an appropriate nickname for the destruction he causes. The cherry on the top for Alabama was seeing Devonta return a punt for a touchdown vs. Arky. If the Heisman voters stick to form, they'll pick a quarterback, and Jones is better than Trask, in my opinion. Trask is an outstanding quarterback. Jones is better. Keep in mind that Mac lost Waddle early on in the season. What would Alabama have done had Waddle remained? 

HARRIS WILL PLAY?

  Alabama would like to see Christian Harris return to the lineup. Harris got injured on the first defensive play against Arkansas. Evan Neal is unlikely to play. Harris is now day-to-day. According to Saban, it will be up to Harris to decide whether he can play full speed. Jalen Moody stepped in for Harris and played a great game, according to the coaches. The Tide defense has allowed fewer points per game than any defense in the SEC. The Tide offense has scored more than any team in the league. What does that tell you? 

 'BAMA WILL WIN

  It tells me that Alabama will win. Throw in Will Reichard, who has been perfect this season. He hasn't missed an extra point or a field goal in ten games. All indicators point toward a Tide win. I'm old school. I'll worry. I always worry about concocting a game of mishaps, luck, good for them, and bad for us. Logically, Alabama should win by at least 17. I'm picking the Tide to win 49-21, and here's why:

> Alabama's offensive and defensive lines are better than Florida's

>Trask will put up some numbers with his receiving corp

>Jones, Smith, Harris are Bama's three-headed monster

>No shoe-chunkers on the Tide defense

>Bama has the best coach

>Alabama's place-kicker seems locked in

>Devonta Smith might break a punt return for TD

    I think Florida is the best team Alabama has faced this season. They'll score some, and will move the ball. But it will not be enough to pull off the upset. When their season depended on beat a poor LSU team at home, they folded. 

 ROJAS LIGHTS A FIRE IN SECOND HALF...

 

   A thumbs up to Bamathor for posting that as we look back on this basketball season, it may well be that James Rojas turned the page for Nat Oats. Rojas turned vicious under the boards and on the floor to start a comeback against Furman. It seemed to me that JR lit a fire for the Tide. Rojas has gotten a lot of criticism from fans about his play. A torn ACL kept him off the court for over a year. Juan Gary contributed to the comeback as well. Gary is strong, and he can help the Tide under the boards. Of course, Herb Jones elevated his game in the second half. 

     You might recall my post at the end of the first half. Furman played a tremendous first half. They had won 25 games for the last two seasons and are a lock for the NCAA field o 64. In the first half, Petty, Shackelford, and Quineraly were 0 for everything. When your three leading scorers get shut down, you won't be leading. Alabama picked up their defense in the second half. Furman didn't get a lot of uncontested shots. The Tide took better shots in half two, and slowly Alabama overcame the ten-point Furman lead. Alabama took their first lead with 1:13 left on the clock when Rojas buried a three to give the Tide a three-point lead.

      The main reason Alabama won the game was winning the battle of the boards. Alabama had a commanding 49-28 lead on the glass. The offensive rebounds gave Alabama a lot of second and third shots that helped overcome shooting. Bama had 21 offensive boards. Furman had only 5

1. Tough defense and rebounding won the game for 'Bama.
2. The was only 50% from the free-throw line.
3. Quinerly strangely disappeared
4. Shackelford refound his touch in the second half. He is the dynamo for this team. He needs to play as much as possible.
5. Petty continues his slump. He will find his touch again. Shooters have to shoot. 
6. Oats is shortening his bench. That should lead to more cohesion on the floor.
7. Alabama will find itself in a war with Western Kentucky. Rick Stansbury will once again be on the sideline at Coleman.
8. Three years is usually needed to turn a program around. The boo birds need to shut up.

MVP OF THE GAME: tie between Jones s.and Rojas.

 AUBURN'S PROBLEM ISN'T MALZAHN

    The Auburn Athletic Director unceremoniously fired beleaguered head football coach Gus Malzahn after the Mississippi State game; History will note the Tigers won that game. The win moved Auburn's record to 6-4 for the season. Rather than allowing their Coach to finish the season and the recruits he was courting, AD Allen Greene showed him the door.

     The Tigers latest head coach joined the fraternity of failure at the Loveliest Villiage on the Plains. Auburn has a long list of coaching "failures ." I am not sure if the coaching failure is accurate. I think it Auburn itself. Shakespeare told us that "expectation is the root of all heartache."  The good folk of the Auburn family understands that all too well. It seems that seasons following seasons bear the truth of that statement. 

      Starting with Shug Jordan and ending with Gus Malzhan, the highest winning percentage of any AU coach is Terry Bowden. He won 73% of his games. Shug Jordan was the head coach at AU for 24 years and was the bedrock of AU Coaching, but won only 68% of his games. I could go on about the percentages, but suffice it to say that none won over three-quarters of their contests. It might be fair to say that Jordan and Malzhan coached against Bear Bryant and Nick Saban. That's true, but it would also be appropriate to note that AU hasn't been able to find anyone as good as Bryant and Saban.

    Let's go beyond the failure to hire a great coach. I think AU's problem is they cannot attract the number of players needed to build a championship program. That is something that isn't easy to reach. That's the problem that dozens of schools have. The Tigers have to recruit against Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Florida State to get players. A program like Alabama can go nationwide to find players. Auburn is still the little brother to Alabama. I'm not sure Auburn will be able to change that status anytime soon. It certainly doesn't seem possible until Saban leaves. That could be several more seasons. I bet Saban has a plan in place for his replacement. I think Saban will tell Alabama who to hire.

     Wishing and hoping is a sure disaster to build a program. The power of Alabama football is just too great right now. I don't think AU can hire anyone who wants to take on Alabama and Saban. Who would? It seems to me that every AU coach has someone looking over his shoulder all the time. That cannot be conducive to winning.

 DON'T REWARD THE ACC, PAC 12, OR BIG 10 ...

     Let's get straight to the point. OSU doesn't deserve a berth in the CFP. Writing that is going to upset a lot of people. None of them are going to read this, I suspect. It's all perspective. If you listen to a lot of the national media, you'd believe that the Buckeyes are the second coming.  My point isn't about whether the Big 10 team is one of the top four teams. In all honesty, I'm not sure anyone knows which four schools are the best. Well, maybe we all know Alabama is one of those teams, but Alabama is, well,  always Alabama. 

   I believe the more information the CFP committee has better serves the chance to select the participants. Right now, only one conference has provided information to make a case. That is because the SEC-mandated ten-game season provides the CFP the opportunity to see how good conference teams are.  When a team has to win 11 games, you learn a lot.  Here' what I learned the weekend. Alabama is one of the four best teams whether they win or lose the SEC Championship. It turns out that Florida isn't. A two-loss team, even one that might end up beating the Tide, will not be selected, neither should they.  Florida might argue they won the SEC crown, and that matters. They can also correctly declare they beat the number ranked team in the nation.  So that sounds pretty solid. So, I'll give the Gators this - The CFP can select Florida over a team that played six games and had to get their conference to change their own rules to play a championship game and count it toward the six-game minimum.  Ask Indiana if this is fair. 

    The problem with Ohio State isn't Ohio State. It is a conference that is allowing their recent decisions to circumvent their original decision.  What the Big 10 has done is unfair to other schools that attempted to play a full season.  Ask Florida if playing one other game was good or bad. I understand that the Big Ten wants to have a team in the CFP.  Southern Cal will play Washington in the PAC 12 Championship next weekend. The  Trojans might finish undefeated and win their conference. Do they deserve a berth? I think the Big 10 and PAC 12 chose a path that knowingly caused them to play fewer games.  The ACC decided that Clemson and Notre Dame a one-game break this past weekend, as well. That league hopes to get two teams selected. It is unlikely that both teams would have won their season-ending games.  It was unlikely Florida would have lost to LSU. Not only did the ACC act unfairly, but they made the CFP Committee's job even harder. Let's hope the Committee won't reward the behavior of the ACC, PAC 12, or BIG 10.

 BATTLE OF THE QUARTERBACKS...      

    

This year's Iron Bowl might very well end up being a  Mac Jones versus Bo Nix type thing. I don't know if Mac Jones will win the Heisman Trophy this season. I know Bo Nix won't. Alabama fans, at least some Alabama fans, ushered in the season, believing that Bryce Young would be the starter after a couple of games. Meanwhile, down on the Farm, Auburn fans were adamant about Nix winning the Heisman. Nix is a good quarterback.  Mac is a great quarterback. If you had half a brain and remembered how well Jones played after Tua was hurt, you had to believe he'd be the Alabama quarterback.   For Nix, it was more like a coronation. The King has arrived. The New York Athletic Club in New York awaits. All the other quarterbacks left. Some in disgust over what they thought was unfair competition. Whether those rumors are true or not, Nix got the job. Good, bad, or indifferent, Nix had the job.

    Mac just kept his mouth shut and worked his tail off to get to where get us today. People like to point out that Jones has the benefit of some great players around him. That's true. But I'd like to point out those players are lucky to have Jones as their quarterback. Alabama has a steady hand behind the center, and he will likely rise to the occasion today.  Nix has had a plethora of problems on the road this year. He's not at home. All of his poor games have been on the road. All of his interceptions have come on the road. He hasn't been a road warrior, but he is good enough to beat Alabama if the defense doesn't play a good game. If the Tide defense plays a great game, Alabama will beat Nix and the Tigers. 

       Here's what strikes me odd about the pair. Nix has started more games than Jones. The high school phenom from Pinson High School currently has a QB rating of 71.7.  Mac Jones, a good high school prospect, was not heralded, to say the least. His current QB rating is 95.7, and that is a huge difference. Nix and Malzhan will use trickery. They will have to do that to be competitive.  I'm not sure what Sarkazian might try on offense. My best hunch is that the Tide will stick to their tried and true. 

     In the long run, Nix will have to beat Alabama. I'm assuming all questionable players will be on the field. Auburn is a good team. Alabama is a great team. Nix is a good quarterback. Jones is a great one. I'm picking Jones to carry the Tide.

TIDE READIES ITSELF FOR AUBURN...

   

 When Alabama takes the field this Saturday, Nick Saban will not be present; however, I'm not sure anyone can ever avoid the presence of Coach Saban even in his absence.  I suspect Auburn will learn that this weekend. With or without Saban prowling and growling the sidelines, the Crimson Tide has too much firepower for the Tigers to win this game. 

     The Ironbowl, which is no longer about Birmingham's iron and steel laden history, has become a killing field for fans. I'm not sure which college rivalry is the greatest. But, the AU vs. UA game is the most bitterly contested. The winner gloats for a year, and the loser cries. Luckily,  the players contest the game with the utmost respect. Should the fans follow their lead? We should, but I doubt we will. We are all too heavily invested in our support. It is tribal, It is almost primal. We no longer want to just win. It is evisceration we covet. 

    So what happens on Saturday? The Tide will rely on talent. Auburn seems to have the corner on good luck. How many times will Alabama fans have to watch reruns of a pick-six, field goal attempts which go awry, some even returned for touchdowns, and blocked punts. Each of these banalities requires some talent, I'll grant Auburn that, but to Alabama fans, it's as if some god from the underworld arises to allow Auburn to win. Indeed, this season has seen referees (and I use that term lightly) give Auburn two wins they did not earn. In Alabama fans' eyes, the Tigers record should be 3-4 and not 5-2. It hasn't been the best year for officiating, whether it's a fumble called an incomplete pass or an offensive pass interference call so incompetent it has gone viral. When the teams take the field this weekend, the Auburn fans will understand they will likely lose, but Tide fans fear something akin to the Red Sea parting to somehow deliver another fortuitous win for the Tigers.  Be still my beating heart.

I like the Tide by 24.