My computer is having some issues at work this morning, so I'm having to type this in somebody else's office.
The game was exactly like this season. Period. Fast start, then hang on for dear life. Biggest difference - John Parker Wilson made the play at the end of the game.
I'll have more on the game later, once my computer's working. For now, though, I'll just say Roll Tide and happy new year!
¶ 9:31 AM0 comments
I got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas and have been playing it non-stop. Seriously, as soon as Texas went up 21-0, my friends and I turned on the game and we bowled and played tennis all freaking night (aside from flipping on the PS2 to whip my friend's ass at NCAA '08 again - 31-21 Bama over Penn State).
I've figured out how to put a spin on my bowling, the same as I do in real life. It's actually pretty cool. And the tennis game. Yeah. That's the real deal man. It's cool as hell. I look dumb doing it, but other than that, it's actually a pretty good workout. So if you don't already have one - go get it.
This weekend there will be plenty of games on the tube, so make sure you tune in to check out Sly Croom's Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon against UCF, then keep it on ESPN to watch Penn State and Texas A&M (and I guess if you wanted to watch the Patriots, you can do that too). Sunday night is, of course, the Independence Bowl, then all of the regular bowl games on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Cecil has a great article about how the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta could be a good "scouting" type of game for Tide fans to watch because not only would we get to see the stadium where we might open next season, but we could see the two most important teams on our schedule next year - Clemson in the first week, and Auburn in the last week.
Apparently Darren McFadden has been driving around a new Cadillac Escalade. Everybody is denying that it is his, so he can play in the Cotton Bowl, but there are a lot of rumors going around that it came from a sports agent. There's a chance he may not suit up for the bowl game due to Arkansas not wanting to violate NCAA rules. Read more here.
According to Mark McCarter, Nick Saban has gone from Bill Belichick to Will Farrell. His dancing and cutting up with the players seems to really have everyone on the same page, and everyone's having fun and enjoying themselves. Now, come Sunday, I would expect them to be all business, but this is much more entertaining than a normal workman's approach.
Lil Terry won't be getting the West Virginia job, apparently, as the Charleston Gazette is reporting that it's down to Florida assistant coach Doc Holliday, or Central Michigan coach Butch Jones, who I thought had taken his name out of the running the other day.
Since Coach Saban has come in and gotten the athletes and kind of kids that he wants to play for him, Alabama's academics have steadily increased. And I mean significantly. Check this out - the freshmen average GPA was a 3.098. Yup, that's real. Read more here.
Man. I ate some quesadillas last night at TJ Mulligans. Do NOT mix that with Jack Daniels. It doesn't turn out well. Not to mention my daughter stayed up until about 2:30 last night. And I had to be at work early. Sucks.
Regardless, I'm going tonight to get all of my food and beer for tailgating on Saturday at the Liberty Bowl. I just hope it decides to warm up a lil bit - or at least not have as much wind as the past few days. I think we're just gonna do burgers this time - but they'll be marinated, of course, with my special sauce.
Nick Saban can dance. Like, really dance. Wow.
Javier Arenas was interviewed yesterday and rated his ankle at about 80%, which is good enough to play in the Independence Bowl.
Practice for the Independence Bowl has been everything that the Tide players have expected it to be - cold and rainy. "...You've gotta adapt to it," says Nikita Stover. And he's right. Read more here.
The Sports Network thinks that Alabama and Colorado are two pretty evenly matched teams. They expect the Tide to come out ahead though - 27-24.
The players that Coach Saban (much like Coach Bryant) absolutely loves are the ones that may not be the most talented, but will go out and give everything they've got for their team. Players like Darwin Salaam and Forress Rayford, who may not be as well known as some of the others, but who make key contributions to the team through their attitude and their desire. Read more about Bama's unsung heroes here.
¶ 9:19 AM1 comments
Remember the show "Welcome Back, Kotter?" Yeah, I've got that song stuck in my head, thanks to me writing that blog title. Haha. I guess that's a good song for a day back at work. Kinda sucks, because it's going to be pretty slow this week, so the days will be waaaay longer. Oh well, I guess that's just the radiology field for ya.
I'm gearing up to go see Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl on Saturday. We're gonna tailgate in the cold, just like we did in Shreveport. Soooo, incase you're planning on going out there, gimme a shout and lemme know. We'll be there bright and early Saturday morning for a 3:30pm kickoff.
That's the weather for Saturday in Memphis. Eww.
The 'Bama basketball tame ended their trip to the Las Vegas Classic with a win and a trophy. They defeated Missouri State on Saturday night, 81-73, and then handled Iowa State rather easily on Sunday night, 83-68, to win the championship game. Coach Gottfried said it was the best they've run their offense all year, which I find humorous because I didn't think they had an offense, other than guys standing on the perimeter and nobody moving to the basket. Hmm. I couldn't watch the games, so maybe that's changed, but I doubt it.
Coach Saban talked to the media about how difficult it is to juggle family Christmas, or just holidays in general, while trying to get your football team prepared for a bowl game. It's tough, but if you're not preparing over Thanksgiving and Christmas, then that means there's something wrong with your football team, so either way it's difficult. At least the Sabans understand the situation. Read more here.
My grandfather is an ethics professor at Itawamba Community College. Several years ago, one of his favorite students was a kid by the name of Nikita Stover, who always told everyone that he was going to play football at Alabama. Of course, nobody really believed him because he didn't qualify academically to get there right out of high school, and usually those players just can't ever make the grades to get into school. However, Nikita worked his tail off and proved everyone wrong. Then, rather than being a slacker and just wasting a scholarship and not doing anything productive, he proved everyone wrong again and graduated on December 15th. He's primed to be a big-time contributor next season, during his senior year. Great great story.
The Crimson Tide football team arrived in Shreveport yesterday and had their first, and I believe only, workout under the lights at Independence Stadium. The players, according to Mr. Caldwell, are looking at this as their Super Bowl, because of everything that it can do to get the program headed in the right direction.
Javier Arenas took off the black no-contact jersey and practiced at full-speed.
Sports Illustrated has an article about how well recruiting is going, and how a lot of it isn't just because of the coaches, but because of the players as well. Recruiting is more about building relationships and making players feel comfortable with their future teammates, rather than just liking the school itself.
With the wins over the weekend, the Bama basketball team jumped from the 90s in the RPI up to #60. With George Washington and Clemson coming up for New Year's, we've got a shot to jump even higher before conference play starts. We open the season with Florida at home on January 8th.
¶ 8:59 AM0 comments
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Tide basketball won their tournament, the football team is traveling to Shreveport today for the bowl game on Sunday, and all is well with the world. I'll talk about more later on today or tomorrow. For now though, go enjoy some time with your family and friends. :-)
¶ 11:02 AM0 comments
I bought the new Dillinger Escape Plan album last night. Very different for those guys, but it's good stuff. For anybody that enjoys...umm...I guess it's called "math-core"...then go check it out. Buy it for your mom for Christmas. :-)
Well, according to the latest Rivals rankings, we're up to #2 in the country on the recruiting rankings. We're trailing Notre Dame by a score of 2,531 to 2,437. We are leading Georgia, who comes in at #3 with 2,384 points. Of course, none of this matters because, no matter what these rankings say, the players have to not-only get in school, but also pan out. They've gotta play well over the next four years. I think they will.
Rich Rodriguez has gone ahead and let all of the Michigan coaches know that they will not be back next season. In a way this is weird, because they're preparing for a bowl game, but at the same time I would guess it's nice to have closure. Besides, he's just doing the same thing that Saban would have done at Alabama, had he been here before the bowl game.
The powerhouse that is SMU football has officially narrowed their choices for head coach down to former Miami coach Larry Coker, and former Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione. Sounds like a real winner there, right? Read more here.
Trooper Taylor, regarded as Tennessee's best recruiter, left to join the staff at Oklahoma State as co-offensive coordinator because Phil Fulmer didn't appear that he was anywhere near a decision on who was going to be the next offensive coordinator. Oklahoma State needed an answer, and were offering a pay raise and a chance to call plays - and Tennessee didn't rise to the occasion and even attempt to keep a guy that has held together their recruiting class. It appears that this coaching staff knows that Fulmer is as good as gone without Cutcliffe, so they're getting out while the gettin's good.
With all the support for Doc Holliday and Terry Bowden in the search for West Virginia's next head coach, a surprise serious candidate is former offensive line coach Rick Trickett, who left after last season to join Florida State's coaching staff. Trickett has the support of both Joe Manchin, the governor of West Virginia, and the AD, Ed Pastilong.
UCLA, who was thought to be targeting Rick Neuheisel as their new head coach, has apparently been in contact with Oregon's Mike Bellotti, and he has shown interest back. Very strange series of events. Read more here.
The rumors about Greg McElroy transferring to Hawaii. Yeah, complete crap. Greg said he's here to stay.
Javier Arenas, who we thought was probably out until at least the spring with a high ankle sprain, was running almost full speed at practice yesterday, doing both returning and playing the secondary. "I think I'll be ready to do it all if I'm needed, but if guys are out there doing the job, there's no reason to take a major risk. Just however it goes, however it flows, you've got to go with it."
The offense has started over from the very basics. Practices haven't seemed like mid-season, but more like the nasty spring and August camps where the coaches are doing everything to push the kids to get the fundamentals right. Start from the beginning, right? Read more here.
Three North Carolina football players were kidnapped and sexually assaulted - by women. Seriously. Read here.
¶ 9:43 AM0 comments
Yup, it's true. Today's Thursday, thank the good Lord. I've got almost all of my xmas shopping done. I thought I was completely finished...but I forgot a few things, as I'm sure most of you have done as well. Haha. Also, I'm looking for a black Alabama cap - so if anybody run across one, lemme know.
I went to T.J. Mulligan's again last night with my band and one of my friends that just flew in from California a couple of days ago. It's fun to get the whole gang back together. Moody will be coming in from State College, PA on Sunday evening. We'll be killin some flag football and some NCAA 08, like usual. I've you've got any other suggestions for what else to do for Christmas besides drink eggnog and play video games, lemme know. Haha.
Well, after our 75-65 victory over Texas Pan-American last night, we moved up to #94 in the latest Real-time RPI ratings. The victory was a good one, as we held a 21 point lead with 3:30 left in the game, but gave up a late rally by the Broncos to pull it closer than it really was. The win over Wofford didn't look that great, and really made us worry about this team, but after the Terriers beat Purdue in West Lafayette last night, maybe that close win doesn't look so bad. Wofford is, by the way, ranked #74 in the latest rpi rankings, so that makes them Alabama's only win over a top 100 team. We've got a chance to get another over Missouri State on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Mike Johnson feels like the offensive line will be a force in the bowl game, thanks to everyone being back at their natural positions after all the suspensions and injuries are done with. I look for a good performance out of these boys in Shreveport.
Coach Saban has Alabama at #2 in the SEC in recruiting behind Georgia, and if we finish out with a few of the higher profile 5-star kids like we're expecting, they could finish with a bang and wind-up at #1, not only in the SEC, but in the country.
¶ 9:21 AM0 comments
Goin to TJ Mulligan's tonight to watch my buddies Zach and Chris play some acoustic tunes. Zach's the bass player for a band called Shinedown. Check them out at myspace.com/shinedown if you haven't heard them. They're pretty good.
Anyway,
DJ Hall met with the media yesterday, and contrary to several internet reports, he has not left the team, he will play in the bowl game, and he is on record as saying he's not a bad guy. No, he never go into any fights with John Parker Wilson. No, he's never started arguments with anyone in the locker room. None of that stuff is true. "People probably say I ain't the greatest guy around here," said Hall, who noted that most of the Internet-based attacks came when the team was struggling. "There are a lot of things people don't see. I hope people don't think I'm a bad person. But I think some people do."
The team has been working on the fundamentals the past few days, and they will begin implementing the game plan for Colorado at today's practice.
Jimmy Johns is already showing a good ability to play linebacker. He's got the instincts to be able to really contribute at the position. Just ask Glen Coffee. Haha. Read more here.
Andrew Bone has a pretty good article up about the Tide's commitment pickups just before the recruiting dead period. Picking up Chris Jordan and Robby Green just before the break really boosted the Tide's recruiting ranking, and helped Bama build some more momentum heading into January. Read more here.
Beano Cook was on Finebaum yesterday and was absolutely hysterical. It was a great interview with quotes like "the three best conferences in football are the AFC, the NFC, and the SEC" and "If the coaches in the SEC were generals in the Pentagon, the Iraq war would be over." Good stuff. Take a listen over at Finebaum.com.
You wanna know who's excited about 'Bama playing in Shreveport? Nick Saban is excited. He's ready to get back out there and coach after being off for a few weeks to go out and recruit some more talent. The kids coming in are just incredible, but the kids that are still on this team can start over and play a one-game season in the Independence Bowl. For once, this game is the only one that matters. Just win, baby.
Don't forget to go and vote for the Pontiac Game Changing Performance for this year. Voting ends on January 11th, 2008, and you can vote once per week, starting on Sundays. Go vote here.
¶ 8:55 AM0 comments
If you want to go to the Independence Bowl, but you haven't gotten your tickets yet, go check out TickCo.com's Independence Bowl Tickets, or if you're in Memphis and you don't care a whole lot about going to Shreveport, but you still wanna watch some football, check out their Liberty Bowl Tickets so you can watch Sly Croom and the Bulldogs take on Kevin Smith and the UCF Golden Knights.
And speaking of basketball: are you serious? I mean, really. Wofford? No, you didn't lose, but good lord. How many opportunities can you possibly get to put a game away, and you miss like 80% of your free throws in the final two minutes? Ridiculous. Here's some stats that should scare you. Alabama shot 8 of 17 from the freethrow line. Wofford shot 10 of 14 from 3-point range in the first half. Alabama was out-rebounded 38-27 in the game. This does not look good.
But, with the win, Alabama moves up to #102 in the RPI. Much better than the 200-something that we were at after the loss to Belmont.
Jimmy Johns has finally moved to linebacker, just in time for his senior season. And it was just like my dad told me at the beginning of the year. He said "Jimmy Johns won't play a down of football until he personally goes to Coach and tells him that he wants to play and that he doesn't care where." He brought up the idea to Coach, and, in my opinion, that means he'll play harder to get on the field. I think this move will do wonders for this team.
Terry Bowden REALLY wants the West Virginia job. Yes, I've heard the rumors about Saban. I will go ahead and say this - I'll do like Finebaum. If Saban leaves Bama to coach West Virginia, then I will stop posting on this blog. I'll start a new one called "ScrewCollegeCoaches.com."
Chris Jackson, one of Georgia's most productive high school receivers in history, committed to Alabama this morning. Even better than that - he'll be an early enrollee, so he'll count towards the 2007 class.
Barry Saunders, a writer for the News Observer, calls Duke University "spineless" for not hiring a black coach. Riiiight. Read more here. This is beyond the realm of laughable. This is like coma-inducing-because-i-can't-stop-laughing type funny.
There are 12 major college basketball projections on the web - and Alabama is actually found in one of them. Basketball Predictions has Alabama as a 12 seed, as of Sunday evening. If we can pick up 4 wins this week, including victories over Missouri State and Purdue, then that prediction will look much better.
¶ 8:45 AM0 comments
If you pick bowl games based on who looks at the game as a bigger accomplishment, then you should probably go with Colorado in the Independence bowl. Alabama, one time at 6-2 and in control of their own destiny to get to the SEC championship game, has stumbled and lost 4 straight, while Colorado had to win their last game, 65-51 over Nebraska, to get to their 6th win. Read more about the momentum swings here.
West Virginia fans and players aren't taking too kindly to Rodriguez leaving for Michigan. The press conference was this morning in Ann Arbor to announce him as the new head football coach. Word on the street is that Terry Bowden (yes, that Terry Bowden) is in talks with the school already about replacing Richie.
The Crimson Tide returned to practice yesterday, practicing indoors to avoid the below-40 temperatures to get warmed up for practice all week. They'll practice two times today, and then will have practice every day this week, concluding with a morning workout on Saturday. They'll take off the 23rd and 24th before traveling to Shreveport on Christmas Day. They will hold the rest of their scheduled practices in Shreveport.
John Pruett makes a very good point - if you think these bowl games don't mean anything to Alabama and Auburn, you're nuts. Don't you think Nick Saban would MUCH rather finish the year 7-6 than 6-7? Yeah. Read more here.
Ian goes into detail about the balancing act between over-preparing and under-preparing for bowl games, and the juggling that Coach Saban is trying to do. Read more here.
Bama is definitely happy to be in the Independence Bowl, especially considering there was a chance they wouldn't go bowling at all. Read more here.
¶ 8:53 AM0 comments
Yup. Last night was just as rough as I thought it would be.
But, after we left, we all went to Central BBQ, ordered a couple of racks of ribs, and a couple of pitchers of beer, and everything seemed to be ok. Time to move on. We've got a show in Jackson, TN tomorrow night, so I guess it's the right time now.
The show in Jackson should be cool. We're playing with a band called TrustCompany from Montgomery, AL. They were called 41down back in the day - and the day was a Wednesday. Anyway, lots and lots of rock n roll, my friends. We're ready to roll.
Arkansas State has signed on to play Alabama on November 1st, 2008, which appears to take the spot of Northern Illinois. That still leaves the question of the Clemson game. I still haven't heard any news regarding it.
Stewart Mandel, over at SI.com, warns Arkansas fans that Bobby Petrino will wear out his welcome soon enough. This is not a Nick Saban type figure that has come into Fayetteville. This is a good that is constantly looking for the next best thing. I suppose we'll just see how it plays out. Read more here.
Matthew Zemek, over at Fox Sports, talks about all of the soap operas in the SEC right now, and he goes about comparing Saban and Petrino - rather unfairly if you ask me. Saban at least had the nuts to wait out the season. Regardless, you can see Arthur Blank's press conference there as well - which is awesome because he calls out Petrino in the most "professional" way possible. check it out.
Man, today's gonna be a long day. One of the guys that used to roadie for my band committed suicide on Saturday night while we were playing a show. All of us have been doing our best to try and not let it really get to us, because there's nothing we can do, but tonight's his wake and tomorrow's the funeral. It's gonna be pretty difficult to get through. We've got another show on Friday, and it'll be only his 2nd show to miss. Please pray for his family because they were already going through some tough times. His mother was diagnosed with breast cancer the day before he did it. RIP Stevo. Your memory is with us forever buddy. We love and miss you.
Our prized recruit, Mr. Julio Jones, was named Alabama's Mr. Football for 2007. Pretty big deal. Of course, he's a humble kid, and rather than take all of the attention, he directed some of it to his teammates as well. "This award here is just for me," Jones said, "but it shows how much hard work my teammates put in as well." He's just a good kid.
Coach Saban basically has told the players to either buy-in to the process, or get outta T-Town. There is a list of players (he didn't name) that will be encouraged to transfer to another school, and several that will not be retained on scholarship. Bottom line: clean out the bad seeds and start anew.
Pat Forde apologized to Nick Saban in his most recent article, letting him know that his place as "king of the liars" has been replaced by one Bobby Petrino. Read more here.
And yes, that means that Petrino has taken over as the head coach at the University of Arkansas. This could end up being a good hire, but at the same time, I think Mr. Petrino is going to end up finding out that good quarterbacks don't grow on trees, and in the SEC, there are some big bad dudes that will be looking to rip the QB's head off on every play...so you better find another way to win other than constantly throwing the football.
The media is absolutely eating Petrino for lunch. He did worse than Saban. Rather than wait until the season was over, he just completely quit on his team. That's ridiculous. Yahoo sports completely rips him.
Auburn has hired Tony Franklin as offensive coordinator, bringing him in from Troy. This is, of course, the best possible fit, because Franklin was on Hal Mumme's staff at Kentucky when the school went on probation for buying football players. Yup. Same guy. Read more here. With Auburn losing the recruiting battle as bad as they are, they needed somebody to come in with some experience on paying athletes, I suppose.
If you're looking to get down to New Orleans for the BCS championship game, please be sure and check out TickCo.com's selection of BCS Championship tickets.
¶ 9:01 AM0 comments
Sometimes I wonder why I'm at work. I mean, I know I've got bills and a family to support...but damn, I really do hate waking up just to go waste valuable time out of my life to go make money for somebody else, y'know?
Nah, we won't get into philosophy today. Haha.
Paul Finebaum absolutely blasts Bobby Bowden and the Florida State organization for allowing him to remain on as head coach. Best part of the article - referring to Bowden and Paterno's quest for all-time-winningest coach as this generation's version of "Grumpy Old Men." Haha.
Colorado credited their defense for their 65-51 win over Nebraska in the season finale, which got them their 6th win and made them bowl eligible. Yes, they gave up 51 points and still credited the defense for the victory. Huh? Read more.
Wallace Gilberry was selected to be in the Senior Bowl this year, which is awesome because Alabama first noticed him in the exact same stadium - Ladd-Peebles Stadium - in the Alabama / Mississippi High School all-star game before his freshman season. It's like a coming home party.
Mal Moore spoke at the Quarterback club in Montgomery recently and talked about how Alabama is headed in the right direction with Coach Saban. He, along with most rational Tide fans, know that there is a severe lack of talent and depth on this football team, and the only thing that can really fix that is hard-nosed recruiting, which just so happens to be Saban and his staff's specialty. Good things are in the future for Alabama.
Michigan's president finally took matters into her own hands and got Les Miles, his agent, and AD Bill Martin on the phone the other day to discuss the possibility of Miles still coming to Michigan. Nobody is talking about the conversation, with the agent, AD, etc, all responding to questions with "no comment." Things could get interesting after the title game.
¶ 9:53 AM0 comments
You know the drill. No sleep all weekend means I'm feelin it this morning. Had a show here in town on Saturday night, which was a lil different for us (almost nothing but kids there). It was cool though.
Regardless, I'm here today. Remember, if you're in Memphis and you need tickets to the Liberty Bowl to go watch Croom's Dawgs, or tix to the Independence Bowl to watch Saban's Tide, then stop by TickCo.com for their specials on Liberty Bowl and Independence Bowl tickets.
Vanderbilt's Bobby Johnson is apparently interviewing for the same position at Duke. At first, this seems like a lateral move, at best, until you look at the ACC and how down it is. If Bobby does the same thing at Duke that he's been doing at Vanderbilt, he should get to 6 wins every year easily. His biggest problem in the SEC is playing Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, etc, every year. It's tough to find six wins when that's your schedule. Every team could, and probably should, beat you.
As we've talked about before, Coach Saban doesn't wear his players out by preparing too much for a bowl game. The key word for Coach is "consistency," so to prepare more for a bowl opponent than for a regular season opponent...well, that wouldn't be consistent. Read more about how the players are currently taking practice easy at the moment - but not conditioning and 7-on-7s.
Andre Smith is planning on closing out this season with a bang. He's keeping his goals high, even after winning the award for best offensive lineman in the SEC this season. He understands he still has a lot to work on. Read more here.
If you wanna read an inspiring story, and one that'll make you proud to be a Tide fan, read this story on Wallace Gilberry. How he quit IHOP to be in the Alabama / Mississippi high school all-star game, and how he's come full circle now to trying out for NFL teams.
The players are helping Saban with his recruiting by hosting players on their official recruiting visits. It's funny how Saban will be out recruiting and won't start bowl practice until the official "no contact" time period in December. Anyway, read up on what the players are trying to accomplish when talking to these new recruits. They're the future of the program, and the current players understand that. Read more here
The Tide basketball team absolutely drilled Nicholls State on Saturday, 91-53, thanks to them shooting 13/20 from the 3 point line, and getting a slew of turnovers. It was a good win, and a great confidence builder for the team. Read more about the game here.
If you've not read the article from Detroit absolutely slamming Rutgers coach Greg Schaino, I suggest you do.
Apparently Alabama cheated to win their bowl game in 1991. Somebody sounds bitter that they lost. Read here.
¶ 8:51 AM1 comments
Ha. Yeah, I'm tired again. Got to work a lil early, just because I wanted to leave early today. That's right. Leaving early on Friday. Now that's what I'm talking about.
There's not a whole lot on the plate today. The coaching carousel is still spinning out of control. Michigan may end up with Brady Hoke from Ball State. Arkansas is lost and has no clear favorite at the moment. They'll end up with somebody that doesn't really know what they're doing, of course. Paul Johnson is a candidate at about 3 or 4 different schools, but may not be going anywhere because they're not the right fit. Etc. It's a crazy year, my friends.
The Detroit Free Press feels like Michigan AD Bill Martin should be fired. There's a looong story as to why Miles decided to stay at LSU, and it has to do with the fact that Miles' agent couldn't reach Martin when he needed to. Once the news broke on Saturday from ESPN that Miles was headed to Michigan, LSU forced Les into a decision. They attempted to contact Martin before deciding to stay in Baton Rouge, but Martin was out sailing in Florida, and said his phone wouldn't work. Read the full story here.
There's a new book due to hit shelves in mid-January called "Tarnished Heisman," which details all of the information about the Reggie Bush scandal at USC. Whether he was being paid, etc. It could end up with them taking away his Heisman trophy, etc, and it could end up with USC on probation. We'll see. Read more about it.
Darren Mustin is upset at himself because, although he bought in to Coach Saban's process, he didn't successfully lead everyone else to do the same. I REALLY wish this kid was going to be around next year, and I'd almost be willing to be he'll be a graduate assistant with the team next year. He understands what they're trying to do, and he wants to be a part of it. This statement alone tells you all you need to know - "(...there are) some people out there that just do not care, and they will not care," Mustin said. "Those are the type of weeds that you have to pull out. You regrow and you rebirth." Read more of his statements here.
In the Bears / Redskins game last night, both starting QBs went down with knee injuries. And the players that hit them? Cornelius Griffin hit Rex Grossman. Mark Anderson hit Jason Campbell. Roll Tide, right?
¶ 9:10 AM1 comments
Man, I am just dieing right now. Not enough sleep. Too much work. Got a head ache.
But hey, it's cool, I guess. Went to Central BBQ last night and ate some ribs. Nothing like Dreamland, but it was pretty good. Killed the little bit of work I've done working out and getting back in shape. In the past 3 weeks I've lost 7 pounds, just by not eating fast food while I'm at work, and working out every other day. Sounds like a good diet. Now, if I could only stop drinking beer. Riiiight.
The basketball team looked ok last night against a much better opponent, but once again lost by double digits. I thought we could sneak out a win in that game, but I guess I was wrong. I don't think Georgetown is the #4 team in the country. I have a feeling Memphis is gonna run all over them later this month.
Arkansas has apparently hired Jim Grobe from Wake Forest. I think it's a pretty decent hire for them, and it's definitely more credible than bringing back Gus Malzahn. The deal is said to be worth $2.2M per year over the next five years. Now, before Arkansas fans get all excited and feel like they have a real winner, think about how serious Nick Saban takes football, and then look at how Jim Grobe handles spring practice - as I alluded to back in April.
Pat McAfee, West Virginia's usually dependable kicker, has been receiving death threats, along with having his house and car vandalized, after missing two short field goals against Pitt last Saturday that cost them a chance at the National Title.
StiffArmTrophy.com, who has accurately predicted the past five heisman winners, is saying that Tim Tebow will win this year's Heisman trophy, with Darren McFadden coming in 2nd...again.
I sat up late...again...and watched Memphis and USC. Those two teams have just OODLES of talent. It's kinda ridiculous. And I'm beginning to wonder if maybe there's something up with the rims in the Garden, because people were missing shots that they should have hit all night long, even in the Kansas State / Notre Dame game.
And damn, if you watched ND vs K-State, you woulda seen one ugly giant mutant kid playing for the Irish. That kid, whatever his name is, was ferocious and big and ill-tempered. He won player-of-the-game from ESPN, so he's alright, I suppose.
Turns out that the leading candidate at Michigan is Ball State's Brady Hoke. Are you kidding? I guess they're looking for just about anybody right now. Read more here.
Alabama had 6 players earn All-SEC honors, with Andre Smith appearing on the first team on offense, and Gilberry, Castille, and Johnson all earning first-team defense. Caldwell and DJ Hall earned 2nd team honors.
Ray Melick tackles the idea that if you want to see the future of Alabama football, just look at LSU. NFL scouts would go into LSU's locker room and feel like they were in an NFL locker room. That's how big and talented the guys were. He also does a little bit about Coach Shula, talking about how he wasn't really surprised about some of the stories that came out of Tuscaloosa this year, and how he took some chances on players in his first two seasons, thanks to probation, etc, that may have had some character flaws. Yeah. Read more here.
Well, it's about time to REALLY get involved with recruiting...so to get you started, Andrew Bone talks about the kids that had their official visits last weekend, and the kids that will visit this weekend, including Julio Jones. Read the article here.
Alabama plays Georgetown tonight at 6pm in Birmingham, and it's going to be an absolute showdown between our big man, Richard Hendrix (6'9") and their big man, Roy Hibbert (7'2"). Yes, there's a considerable size difference, but just watch Hendrix. He's got enough power to be able to bang with Hibbert. Read more about the matchup here.
¶ 9:02 AM0 comments
Yeah, not much goin on today. If anything big happens, we'll let you know. As of right now, it appears that Tommy Bowden will be the new coach at Arkansas, which can only mean good things for Alabama, because this guy isn't exactly a great coach.
Crimson Chatter, along with numerous other blogs, points out that the three permanent captains selected for the team this year included 2 juniors (Rashad Johnson and Antoine Caldwell) and only 1 senior (Darren Mustin). Of course, it is noteworthy that two of those (Mustin and Johnson) are former walk-ons. That should give you an idea about the talent on this team.
People are ranking the Alabama/Colorado matchup as the worst bowl game matchup. I don't really see that. I think people will be more intrigued to watch Bama/Colo than they would Florida Atlantic/Memphis or Nevada/New Mexico, right? Oh well. Ian chimes in on it here.
Finebaum says that Alabama should stop while it's behind. He believe the bowl game is meaningless, and that the only thing that can happen is us get beat and end with a losing record again. Read more here.
¶ 9:00 AM3 comments
I'm tired as hell, but that's to be expected, of course.
Well, they announced yesterday that LSU is heading to New Orleans for the National Title game. I can't think of a more undeserving team, other than Ohio State. This year has been shitty for college football. I'll be glad when it's over.
Aside from that, I may be making my way down to New Orleans to watch Hawaii and Georgia. We'll have to see what happens. There's a lot of bowls I may end up at this year. Of course, if you want the best tickets to any of the SEC's bowl games this season, just click the links below, thanks to TickCo.com.
The Shreveport Times marks how this is Nick Saban's first trip back to Louisiana with his college football team since he was the coach at LSU. Sounds pretty crazy, right? Anyway, Dan Hawkins has a lot of respect for Alabama, and I think the matchup is pretty damn good. Should be a good Sunday night football game that a lot of people will tune into because of the name of the teams. Classic football. Read more here.
And no, we didn't forget to post it, but Alabama nearly got beat at home, again, on Saturday night - this time by Southeastern Louisiana. Their only other loss on the season was at LSU, so the loss to Alabama makes them 5-2 on the year. Regardless, we still had to go to overtime at home against SE Louisiana. Read more about Riley saving us in OT.
¶ 8:53 AM1 comments
It appears we'll be heading back to Shreveport for a matchup with Colorado, which is just fine with me. I said I wasn't going back because of the long trip...but I think I might. We'll see what happens.
More today later on. All the BCS hoopla will come to a close tonight when they announce that LSU and Ohio State will be playing for the national title. That's right, a 2 loss team will play for the national title. Who woulda thunk it?
¶ 10:58 AM0 comments
Ok, so here's what I'm reading. First, I'm reading that ESPN has been announcing that Miles is heading to Michigan with Tenuta from GA Tech as his Defensive Coordinator. Then, the Ann Arbor newspaper reports that Miles is staying at LSU. Of course, Scott McKinney, from Southern Sports Tonight, announced that he heard straight from one of Miles's assistant coaches that Miles has told the players that this is his last game at LSU, that's he's taking the Michigan job next week. Hmmmmm.
And in the middle of all this, apparently Coach Saban made a "secret trip" to Baton Rouge on Wednesday. I think it's a bogus report...but we'll see.
Bobby Bowden has an agreement for an extension with Florida State. If that means Bobby's going to be there for a few more years, expect Jimbo Fisher to take one of the many head coaching jobs that's available. My guess would be Southern Miss.
Everything I'm hearing out of Memphis is that Alabama has already accepted an invite to the Liberty Bowl. I've gotten quite a few phone calls about it this morning, and word could come almost immediately following the SEC Championship game tonight. Tide officials and Liberty Bowl officials were already working together for Bear's 25th anniversary of his last game, so it makes perfect sense. Like I suggested earlier in the week, it appears that State is heading to Shreveport, and Kentucky to the Music City Bowl. Everything else is up in the air until LSU and Tennessee finish.
¶ 12:16 PM0 comments
