Colin Cowherd sets out to prove that even broken clocks are right sooner or later

The sun will rise tomorrow. February is coming soon. After winter's chill is over, spring will thaw and summer will warm again. Nick Saban's time will come to an end, some other program will enjoy a fleeting period of success and Colin Cowherd thinks that time is now.

Cowherd, Paul Finebaum and Jim Rome are sports media personalities that don't get ratings and don't make money unless they say stuff knowing that they may have to take it back and apologize for saying it later. It's just what they do. Car dealers sell cars, thieves steal things and pot stirrer-uppers stir up the pot.  But pot stirrer-uppers have an out when they make bold predictions like "the end of an era is upon us." Even the most outrageous doomsayer will be right sooner or later. This is much like the proverbial broken clock. It's always right twice a day.

Nick Saban is a mortal human and his time at Alabama is limited. It is unlikely that any near term replacement will duplicate (or even exceed) his success. But anybody who watched all of the Tide's 13 games in the 2019 season saw a program that was about a cat hair's distance from being another link in the dynastic chain. The team was loaded with talent among the first-teamers but just didn't have the depth and experience of the 2015-2018 teams. Those teams made four appearances in the CFP Championship game and won two while beating would-be aspirants Clemson and Georgia twice each. Injuries and eventual graduation to the NFL are part of the game of Big Boy College Football. That both bugs bit in the same season doesn't mean that an empire is crumbling. Not... yet.

Anyway, here's the pot stirrer-upper, practicing his craft.

New England Patriots. Golden State Warriors. Alabama Crimson Tide. @ColinCowherd on 2020 — the end of the dynasties: pic.twitter.com/G4HDxN3PO7

— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) January 3, 2020

Dylan Moses to return to Alabama

He's coming back, y'all.

Dylan Moses was the missing part in a good-but-not-great 2019 Alabama defense. After the devastating knee injury suffered in August, the team lacked a squad leader. Fans watching Alabama football this season could sense that something was missing:

Moses brings a steadying presence to the quarterback spot of a complex Alabama defense. He was the veteran voice obviously missing from a defense that regressed through attrition. This program overcame incredibly bad linebacker injury luck in 2017 but just didn’t have the depth when disaster struck in August.

Opponents picked on the inexperienced middle linebackers with schemes designed to attack them. Moses was always around the program but couldn’t have the impact he’ll have next fall counseling them from the field instead of the film room.

“I think a lot of the times,” Golding said Sunday of the freshman linebackers, “they are looking for confirmation and the guy beside him doesn’t really know either. And I think that’s been the big difference.”

Coach Nick Saban is delighted, of course:

“He can create value by coming back, and we certainly have to, as an institution and an organization, make him feel comfortable relative to how we insure him and what he can do so that hopefully he’s not going to have these kinds of problems and he’ll be able to improve his draft status.

“I think the big thing with Dylan was he wanted to be a part of the team. He wanted to be a leader of the team, he wanted to come back and play well for Alabama and that was probably the deciding factor for him. Obviously, he’s a great player, he’s a good person and a good leader, and he can make a significant impact on making us better next year.”

Some people who fancy themselves gurus of the draft were a little perturbed:

Pretty shocking Dylan Moses is going back to Alabama. A potential top 10 prospect and LB1 in this class. He’ll be one of the first players off the board in the 2021 NFL Draft. So big for that Alabama defense. https://t.co/tZibpF5wyV

— Rob Paul (@RobPaulNFL) December 31, 2019

Oh, well. Roll Tide!

Tua Tagovailoa Teases a Return

Will he return for a senior season, or jump to the NFL? The possibility of Bama's most prolific quarterback's return was a topic of some discussion earlier this month.

From his interview with TideSports.com's Cecil Hurt:

“Whatever God puts in my heart and my parents’ hearts, that will be the right thing.”

Tagovailoa, who suffered a hip dislocation in Alabama’s Nov. 16 game at Mississippi State and had hip surgery two days later in Houston, is finishing the semester at Alabama and will take final exams next week.

As far as his decision, Tagovailoa said he was looking “at both sides of the spectrum.”

“There is a risk and a reward if I stay and a risk and a reward if I go,” Tagovailoa said.

Tua was later seen at post-season workouts either on a scooter, cart or crutches (practices are allowed by NCAA rules for teams eligible for bowl games), and speculation on message boards, talk radio and social media ran rampant. The man has always been the consummate team player and told people that he was there to show solidarity with his teammates.

Board chatter made mention of the fact that he truly enjoys collegiate life and really likes being on campus with his younger brother, 2019 freshman Taulia.

Then yesterday during the College Football Playoff semi-finals in Atlanta and Tempe, Tua dropped this cryptic message on his Instagram feed:

I think he wants to come back, but his decision might hinge on how other players decide between now and January 20, the drop dead day for commitment to forgo collegiate eligibility. If a whole bunch of top-drawer players decide to bug out and register for the NFL draft, it could push him deep into the 1st round; possibly early 2nd (No way he gets drafted late 2nd).  That scenario makes a return to Tuscaloosa more likely. 

What makes a return even more likely? The fact that even an athlete of his prowess will not be able to participate fully in the NFL Combine or late winter/early spring private workouts. Rehabbing a dislocated hip and pelvic fracture is a months-long, grueling affair. Even if he does return for the 2020 season we won't see much of him in the spring drills or A-Day game.

Coach Nick Saban and his staff have an excellent track record of advising players about the decision to go pro or come back for their senior year. The severity of the injury and the progress of the recovery will complicate things a bit, but it's not like Tua is rolling loaded dice. He'll receive wise counsel.

My hunch is that he plays for Alabama again in 2020 just because of the uncertainty associated with the progress of the rehab.

Cover Photo via Sports Illustrated 

Bama fans have reason to dream about the 2020 team's roster

Another year older, another year of experience and another year better. Based on mock draft reports and some intrepid reporting from Sports Illustrated's Chris Walsh, it looks like the 2020 Crimson Tide football team could come back loaded with talent, experience and a hunger maybe not seen since the 2009 season.

First, the mock drafts. CBS has seven Tide players going in the first round, as does USAToday. Fox Sports also has seven Alabama players going on Day One. Not all of these guys are Juniors with a year of eligibility remaining. Raekwon Davis, Anfernee Jennings and Trevon Smith are all done at Alabama. But there are Juniors who are still on the fence about jumping early.

We've already talked about Tua Tagovailoa's prospects, but what about others with a season of eligibility left? That's where SI's Chris Walsh pencils in some of the blanks.

There are a LOT of names not mentioned yet who seem at this point to be leaning toward staying. Among those I’m hearing are least 75 per cent certain to remain on the Crimson Tide roster are quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receivers DeVonta Smith and Henry Ruggs III, offensive tackle Alex Leatherwood and linebacker Dylan Moses.

That last paragraph may seem like a too good to be true fantasy – and perhaps it is in part – but Nick Saban is emphasizing to his underclassmen, as evidenced by recent remarks by Tagovailoa, how important it is to not just be a first-round pick but to be in the top 15 players chosen when the NFL Draft takes place April 23, 2020 in Paradise, Nevada. ...

The situation remains fluid, and a lot could change, but there is strong evidence that much of it may not and that Alabama’s 2020 team may be much deeper and experienced than initially thought.

A lot of what could change depends on how the remainder of the NFL season and playoffs pan out. Coaching changes in the league don't start until Black Monday, which is December 30 this year. Some more of what could change will play out during the college football bowls and playoffs. Both college seniors and underclassmen could see their draft prospects change according to who's expected to bolt after this season and who else in the country is expected to come back in 2020. 'There are lots of moving parts' is not wrong.

One thing we can count on is that Alabama players considering the move are getting sound advice. Counsel is coming from real grownups with no reason not to shove a Junior in the right direction.

“A lot of guys, man, they got it in their mind that they’re gonna go out for the draft no matter what, and I think you all know my philosophy on that: If you’re a first-round draft pick, you should go. If you’re not, you should stay in school and try to graduate. I think it’s getting tougher and tougher, and more and more guys are making the decision to go out early.

“And at least 50 percent of those cases, it’s not a good decision, and a lot of those guys don’t make a team. What people don’t understand, and everybody should know, is professional football is the only sports league, professional sports league, that doesn’t have a minor-league system. Baseball has a minor-league system. Aaron Judge, he’s a pretty good baseball player, right? He spent a couple years in the minor leagues developing. Well, you don’t do that in football. The only development you can do is in college. So where you enter the league is of utmost importance.

“And I just think that gets overlooked by a lot of players, because it’s all or nothing, and if they don’t make the team, there’s no place else for them to play, and they can’t go back to college and play. I think the road we’re going down right now is not always best for the players that are making decisions to go out early.”

And Coach Saban is not shy about how their decisions affect them as well as how their mindset affects his program.

“I’m sure that guys are going to make individual decisions based on their circumstance and their situation, and what we want to focus on is the guys who want to look to the future and look to trying to improve themselves as players and improve our team in getting back to the standard that we want to play to. This has been something that has been a bit of an issue in the past with other programs and other teams. We haven’t experienced it for a while, but we’ll see what happens with this group. We will have those conversations, and we’ll let you know if any of those decisions are imminent to the players that we have on our team.”

The Nick Saban coaching tree extends a branch into Ole Miss

Nick Saban's dynasty isn't over. It's just beginning. He is the Genghis Khan of college football.

There are 14 teams in the Southeastern Conference. With Saturday's hiring of Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, there are now five current head coaches in the SEC who have served as assistant coaches under Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

They are:

1. Kirby Smart - Georgia
2. Jimbo Fisher - Texas A&M
3. Will Muschamp - South Carolina
4. Jeremy Pruitt -Tennessee
5. Lane Kiffin - Ole Miss 

The Florida Gators have twice put their hopes and dreams with Saban disciples, hiring Muschamp in 2011 and following with former Bama offensive coordinator Jim McElwain in 2014. The impatient Gators traded Mac for former Urban Meyer disciple Dan Mullen in 2018.

What's obvious here is that a successful stint under the coach who's almost certainly the best in his era (if not best ever) has led to very lucrative head coaching jobs at six different programs in the best conference in big boy college football. 

But wait: There's more.

Saban himself has coached at two SEC programs. He won his first national title in 2003 at LSU. So that makes eight SEC programs that have either been coached by Nick Saban or coached by at least one of his former assistants.

Only Arkansas, Auburn, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri and Vanderbilt have yet to feel Saban's touch. Missouri may get a Saban branch of their own if rumors of McElwain's imminent hire there play out.

How has coaching under Saban worked out for the programs that have hired his former assistants? The clear answer is "not too shabby." We excuse the patience-less Florida Gators, of course. (They're special and they'll tell you so if you ask.)

Jimbo Fisher has three conference titles and a National Championship and has a record of 99–32.

Kirby Smart has three SEC East championships, one SEC title and an appearance against his mentor in the championship game for the 2017 season. He's 43–11 in his first and only head coaching gig.

Will Muschamp has a winning record as a head coach, going 54–46 overall between Florida and South Carolina.

Jim McElwain has a 52–31 record with head coaching stops at Fresno State, Colorado State, Florida and Central Michigan.

Lane Kiffin has been the head coach at Tennessee, Southern Cal and Florida Atlantic. Along the way, he's cobbled together an impressive 61–34 record with two Conference USA titles. 

Jeremy Pruitt is the only Saban Padawan with a record at/below .500 with a 12–12 record at Knoxville.

That's a combined record of 321–166 with a national championship and six conference titles. In a 12-game season, that's an average 8–4 record, with a realistic shot at division, conference honors and an occasional chance at national championship contention. Not too shabby.

The only bad news for SEC programs with Sabanites at their helms is that they are a collective 0-19 against their mentor. Sooner or later, one of the students will best his master, but so far... they're not that good.

So, why the Genghis Khan wisecrack? An early 2000's genetic study shows that at least 1-in-200 men living today are direct paternal (Y-chromosome) descendants of the Mongol conqueror.

I'll leave you with this quote, attributed to Genghis hisself:

"The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms."

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Tua Tagovailoa is considering a return for 2020

In an interview with the Don of Tide Sports Media, Tua Tagovailoa says he hasn't ruled out a return to the Capstone for his senior year.

“Whatever God puts in my heart and my parents’ hearts, that will be the right thing.”

Tagovailoa, who suffered a hip dislocation in Alabama’s Nov. 16 game at Mississippi State and had hip surgery two days later in Houston, is finishing the semester at Alabama and will take final exams next week.

As far as his decision, Tagovailoa said he was looking “at both sides of the spectrum.”

“There is a risk and a reward if I stay and a risk and a reward if I go,” Tagovailoa said.

I don't know about other Bama fans, but regardless of where he plays next season, I will hold my breath every time he takes a snap. He's the kind of football player that Brett Favre, Kenny Stabler and Joe Namath were. They put finishing the play first and didn't care how the dice rolled on whether he survived it or not. Sometimes the play ended spectacularly, but sometimes it ended with us all gasping in sudden fear.

Go ahead, Bama fans. Tell Tua what he should do, and tell us why your counsel makes sense. Heh...

College football is big business whether we like it or not. With big business comes big risk.

He talks about money as part of his decision making, and that's ok. There's nothing wrong with squeezing every nickel out of your abilities and there's nothing wrong with the timing of his departure coming down to a business decision.

When Tua is healthy and all cylinders are firing, he is absolutely unstoppable. He sees plays unfold before the ball is even snapped and has finished games with more TD passes than incompletions. He's a rare phenomenon and we're blessed to have had him on our side.

The Crimson Tide returns a lot of talent next season. The 2019 team was deep and talented, but also very young. Great things are possible in 2020 whether he returns for his final tour or takes his God-given talent to the NFL.

Wherever he goes, may he take God's grace with him.

Iron Bowl 2019: It's tough to beat luck like that...

For this Iron Bowl, both the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers laid everything on the field on a perfect Saturday evening at Jordan Hare Stadium. This is the way this annual grudge match is supposed to be.

What seems to set the 2019 apart from the standard fare of the series was the sloppiness. Sloppiness is a symptom of a lack of discipline, lack of experience and poor concentration. Neither team had much of any of that good stuff.

Auburn won this game using their athleticism and incredible luck. But as the old saying goes, luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Auburn was prepared, Alabama was not.

Four plays epitomized Alabama's fortunes in the game:

1. Auburn's Smoke Monday (is that a name or a play call?) picked off a sailed throw from Alabama's Mac Jones and took it in for a 29-yard touchdown. This is not typical Mac Jones--he's never wild or careless with the ball. It just sailed this time.
2. After three 1st and Goals, Auburn took a Jones pass that bounced off of Naji Harris's back into his hands and raced 100 yards for another pick six.
3. With the score 48-45 Auburn's way, Joe Bulova boinked what should have been an easy kick to tie the game. That's pretty much been Bama's poison for a lot of Nick Saban's tenure at Alabama, but anyway...
4. With Auburn facing 4th and 4-ish with about a minute left, and with everyone in the world except Auburn expecting a punt, AU instead showed a standard offensive lineup. That forced Bama to too-hastily substitute and AU caught'em with 12 men on the field. Automatic 1st down; ball game.

That last penalty was the 13th against Alabama, which is the most ever for a Saban coached team at Alabama. Almost every one of the flags went against underclassmen, every one of them on the field at Auburn for the first time.

In many of the 2019 games, the left side of the defense seemed to always have at least one guy out of position. Opposing teams exploited that weakness repeatedly. Often on 3rd down. Usually for a conversion. Almost always against underclassmen.

Truth be told, Alabama has been cheating lady luck all season. Had this team of uncharacteristically young Sabanites faced up-to-speed and healthy opponents in South Carolina, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Mississippi State, a 10-2 regular season record would have gotten Coach Saban legitimate nominations for SEC and National Coach of the Year awards. The team lost a treasure trove of talent to the NFL after the 2018 season. No fewer than five freshmen started on defense. There were no more than seven seniors starting against Auburn on the whole team. The offense didn't have one senior starter on the field against Auburn. Not one. The defense only had four. The starting lineup for the Iron Bowl consisted almost exclusively of underclassmen, and only a handful will (or should) depart early for the NFL Draft.

All Bama fans want Alabama to win every single game they play. The players and coaches want that even more. But when your team's best players lack big game experience, you're at risk. When you're up against teams in the SEC, and your team's best players lack big game experience, you're really at risk. When you're the Alabama Crimson Tide and every opponent on the schedule has your game circled on the calendar... luck is just about the only thing that gets you through unscathed. Alabama lost to the only two ranked teams it played--LSU in a down-to-the-wire shootout at home, and Auburn in a down-to-the-wire shootout in their corral. 

There is still a bowl game to play and Alabama will be at the top of the list for the SEC's top tier bowl tie-ins. The few seniors and departing juniors still have one more chance to show their stuff.

After that, Alabama will get down to business putting the 2019 season's experience to very good use. Nick Saban never misses an opportunity to use disappointment as a motivator. The 2019 true and redshirt freshmen will come back and work with the rising upperclassmen. Between 25-30 players from this team will be back for 2020. A year older, a year better an a year hungrier.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity and it's my bet that Alabama will be more than prepared this time next year to take advantage of many more opportunities. And other fans can complain about bad luck.

Bama will be just fine.

Iron Bowl 2019: A game that is almost always won or lost in the trenches

This is the Southeastern Conference, where big boys come to play big boy football and all little boys watch'em and pray they grow up to be'em. This is the Iron Bowl, an uncivil civil war between two in-state rivals. This game is like almost every other game played in this league in that it is almost always decided in that scant yard or so we call the neutral zone--a gentleman's euphemism for warfare's No Man's Land.

If your big strong ugly dudes can knock down the other team's big strong ugly dudes, you can win the game. If your less big, less ugly dudes can also block, catch and run, then you probably will win.

Auburn's defensive front seven is probably the best front seven in the league. They are big, athletic and have been wreaking havoc on opposing offensive lines.  Their defense has kept them in games that they shouldn't have had a chance at winning.

Alabama probably has the best offensive line in the league. It's better than Georgia's and at least as good as LSU's. Bama's offensive line finally gelled when Deonte Brown returned from a four game NCAA suspension against Ole Miss in September. The line has worked together as a unit since then--a usual key to success up front.

Auburn's offensive line has been a disappointment. Some of that is due to youth, but some of it is due to injuries. The shifting of players and lack of experience has kept the unit from working successfully together for any considerable stretch. Talent at 'skill' positions only counts if the defense isn't on your side of the line of scrimmage every other snap.

Likewise, Alabama's front seven has struggled. Part of those struggles are also injury related. Bama lost LB Dylan Moses to a freak injury in practice before the season started. The team has never lacked the physical talent necessary to make plays. But Moses was to be the defense's quarterback, making sure the players were in position for Coach Saban's 3-4 Over/Under defense. The left side of the defense has frequently been caught flat-footed or just plain out of position, and the team has often found it hard to get off the field on third downs. Whether Moses' presence could have made a difference is pure speculation but it damned sure wouldn't have hurt.

So we'll likely see a push and push--Alabama's offensive line will struggle to keep Auburn's front seven from wrecking plays, and Alabama's talented front seven will likewise wreak havoc on a young Auburn offensive line.

In games like this, anything can happen. I have no idea who wins.

2019 Iron Bowl: It's that time of year again

Ahh, Thanksgiving. Turkey & fixin's on Thursday, a mad grab for material reward on Friday and the most uncivil civil war on Saturday. Then triage and hangover-nursing (for some) on Sunday.

Look at the history of the series. The average margin of victory is about 16 points. In the College Football Playoff era, the margin has been 17 but the BCS era was closer with a margin of 12.5. Alabama owns the only blowout victories in recent history, all in the Nick Saban era. There was a 36-0 shutout to end the Tommy Tuberville regime in 2008. Then 42-14 in 2011; then 49-0 in 2012 to end Gene Chizik's head coaching career and last year's 52-21 beatdown.

Rivalry games are always emotional. In a rivalry this heated, this bitter and this intense, the rivals’ adrenaline lasts a little longer than the first quarter.

A lot the players in this game are from the state of Alabama. They probably played against each other in high school and may have even played against each other in pee wee leagues. Their families know each other. They’ve gone to the same churches, the same schools and played on the same playgrounds. Sooner or later the two teams will settle in and just play football, but this game is always a little more intense than other rivalries.

Almost all of the fans in this state know each other. We work together. We live in the same neighborhoods. We worship together, shop together and share the road with each other. A big percentage of us all are related to one another, too. I have cousins and in-laws who have crossed over to the Dark Side, for some mysterious reason (I do pray for them; you should, too). Civil wars are always like this.

For most of the three months of college football's regular season, we kind of look at each other a little differently. For the other nine months we tolerate each other. For one holiday weekend, we hardly speak to one another and rarely about the Iron Bowl.

For about 3-1/2 hours on that Saturday afternoon, it's war.

The stakes for the 2019 installment are pretty high. Alabama still has a good chance to make its sixth straight appearance in the College Football Playoff. With three losses already, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn is probably coaching for his job. Win this game and he probably comes back. Lose it, and he probably doesn't.

For us fans, there's just the Braggin' Rights thing and the schadenfreude pleasure of wearing the T-shirts, sporting the bumper stickers and sharing the memes on social media. Win or lose life will go on. We'll keep working together, worshipping together and living together because it's... just a football game.

The SEC deserves to have two teams in the Final Four, and Alabama should be one of them

First of all, if you're a Bama fan reading this you're just a fan, just like me. As fans, we have absolutely no obligation to not look ahead of the next opponent. No amount of future-tripping will have one bit of impact on what the rest of this season deals out to the Alabama Crimson Tide. We don't matter unless we don't show up for games and we don't show support win or lose. We are the Bama Nation and this program's tradition has us rightly expecting to be in the mix for the national championship every single year.

If you're not just a fan then you are (1) a member of the allegedly objective sports media (2) a coach or player and you should know better than to eat this rat poison or (3) a fan of a rival school and your therapist has told you not to hurt yourself by obsessing over stuff like this.

The Southeastern Conference is the best football conference in the country. Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia and LSU are the five most lethal teams in the country (Auburn and Florida are both better than their records indicate). Put any two of these against any other two teams in the country. Play each matchup 10 times and there's better than a coin-flip chance that those two SEC teams end up meeting each other in the Championship Game every time.

You can't change my mind.

Even with the injuries to Tua Tagovailoa, Henry Ruggs, Christian Hale and Raekwon Davis Alabama is still one of the elite teams in the most elite conference in the country. The College Football Playoff selection committee is supposed to nominate and seed the four best teams in the country.

Alabama needs to win out, of course. They have to win the Iron Bowl and it doesn't matter if a one loss-Georgia wins or loses the SEC Championship Game. If Georgia loses, Alabama is in because its one loss compared to Georgia's two is a better resume.  If LSU loses, Alabama gets in because LSU lost last. If Georgia stomps LSU, all the better because Alabama lost one game by a measly five points in a slugfest.

I hear and respect the arguments of teams like Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma. Pick Clemson and either of the other two for playoff berths. For the odd man out you can make a case that the jilted team could have never survived an eight game SEC schedule with their skins intact. They'll be ok--they know that's true and besides, they're used to being left out. They can play one of the other SEC elites for third place bragging rights.

If Alabama wins the Iron Bowl, then the Tide should make its sixth appearance in the College Football Playoff. Anything else is a travesty.

Don't argue with me.

The Crimson Tide and some Tide fans both have some gettin' better to do

What a great day for college football. The two best football teams in the nation's best college football conference went toe-to-toe yesterday when Alabama hosted LSU in an epic slugfest. The President of the United States was in attendance. The 41 points Alabama scored against LSU was the most they'd scored in regulation since Florida and Georgia both hung 50+ points on them in 2008. Unfortunately for our side yesterday, LSU hung 46 on Bama, the most in series history.

Suffice it to say that both Alabama and some it its fans have a lot of gettin' better to do.

LSU and Bama are both the kind of team that can and do make you pay for you mistakes. Alabama made more mistakes and LSU made'em pay. Two critical first half turnovers led directly to two Tiger TD's. Both turnovers were quarterback Tua Tagovailoa mistakes. It would be too easy to second-guess Nick Saban's decision to start Tua; to claim that had he not started the two miscues wouldn't have happened.

Alabama has started four freshmen all season on defense and at many times yesterday there were five freshmen on the field. Freshmen make mistakes. They will get better at not being out of position. They will get better at recognizing what the offense is showing and getting into the right coverage, and they will get better at tackling. Experience is solid gold and we're a little short of specie this year.

The officials also made mistakes. Both teams were guilty of defensive holding and defensive pass interference and weren't flagged. Then there was the highly questionable sideline throw that should have been overturned (I call BS on the "forced out" excuse). LSU's offensive line held on every other pass play and never got called. Alabama was offsides at least a half-dozen times. But when thinking about officiating, it's best to remember that if your team just does what it's supposed to do, bad calls or no calls can't change the outcome.

LSU's offense is nothing short of jaw-dropping. They don't make many mistakes. A very good offensive line. A very good receiver corps. And a great quarterback with uncommon grit and toughness. LSU has a chance to win it all.

Coach Ed Orgeron of LSU is the real deal. He talks funny but he's building a formidable program through great recruiting, great coaching and a mutual love with the state of Louisiana.

Alabama fans welcomed President Donald Trump with warm hospitality. It's rare for the Commander in Chief to visit your house in a game with such magnitude, Greatness attracts greatness. Usually. It sometimes attracts the pettiest among us.

So it comes with great embarrassment to learn that some idiot decided to go full Antifa and vandalize the Baby Trump balloon that anti-Trump protesters had brought to pre-game activities. Protesting is the most American thing ever. There's a reason why freedom of expression is guaranteed in the very First Amendment to the Constitution.

Like it or not, ridicule is a protected form of free expression. The balloon, the people behind it and the message it sends are an affront to common decency. That's not surprising--the left's inability to accept the legitimacy of the Trump Administration is itself nothing more than a spoiled brat throwing a hissy fit over the 2016 election. The Baby Trump balloon couldn't be a better representation of today's left if you prayed for it. The whole left is a great big baby, throwing  a great big tantrum.

The man who slashed the balloon  is Hoyt Hutchinson. He is no better than that piece of shit Harvey Updyke, who poisoned Auburn University's famed 100+ year old oaks at Toomer's Corner. It is appalling and deeply embarrassing that Hutchinson, like Updyke, is being celebrated by some Bama fans as some kind of hero today. Consider that Antifa is a lawless and violent organization that routinely destroys historic landmarks and violently confronts peaceful marches and demonstrations they disagree with. To the left, Antifa is a bunch of heroes. To decent society, they are thugs. To some Bama conservatives, Hutchinson is the new Updyke. To me, he's not much better than Antifa.

Updyke. Hutchinson. The unnamed Tuscaloosa protest "organizers." Antifa. All cut from the same rotten cloth. Most Bama fans are better than this. Some, like the Tide they profess to love, have some gettin' better to do.

The most anticipated preview of the most anticipated game of the season

Tidefans.com has been my "home" on the football side of the internet since May 2001. For every game Alabama plays during the football season, Jess Nicholas gives TF denizens a preview of the matchup, going position-by-position of both teams. He talks strengths, weaknesses and schemes and makes a pick.

With LSU undefeated again and coming  back to Tuscaloosa to face an undefeated Alabama (again), this week's preview is the most anticipated yet.

An appetizer:

Alabama will have to win this game amid a circus that will be taking place outside the stadium: the arrival of ESPN’s College Gameday set, the attendance of President Donald Trump. But the biggest circus act this week has been the high-wire balancing act of media pundits, who have had to balance their newfound love for LSU against criticism of Alabama despite the Crimson Tide being no worse than the Tigers’ equal.

He's right. As an example of the media's Wallenda Act, look no farther than SI's Pat Forde. Click that link only if you really like 500+ words of equivocating bullshit.

It's gonna be a great game. If you want to see how a really talented phrase-turner expects the game to end, click the first link.

First College Football Playoff rankings are out and no one outside the top four is happy.

Mark my words--we are headed towards (at least) a six-team playoff slate. Only the top four are playing for the national championship and the top four won't be set in stone until the first Sunday in December. But regardless of who those top four are, at least two teams that are left out will have at least two eloquent someones each complaining about how they got robbed.

The people squalling about how their team deserves to be in the group who produces the champ will credibly argue that the college football playoff is just an extension of the old Bowl Championship Series, where a consensus selection of the two best teams played for the title. They'll credibly argue that while the CFP is an improvement, it's not improvement enough. It's still just a popularity contest with twice as many popular contestants. More is better, they'll say.

Those arguing against expansion will counter with an equally credible case that extension of the CFP field continues to diminish the importance of the regular season. They'll also make a compelling argument that the regular season plus bowl games are the traditional foundation of college football's popularity. It's not the NFL, it never will be, so it therefore shouldn't ever be made to look even a little bit like the NFL. The BCS was only superficially flawed in that every now and then there really were three deserving teams.

So here we are with the first CFP rankings:

Rank	Team	Record
1	Ohio State University	8-0
2	Louisiana State University	8-0
3	University of Alabama	8-0
4	Penn State University	8-0
5	Clemson University	9-0
6	University of Georgia	7-1
7	University of Oregon	8-1
8	University of Utah	8-1
9	University of Oklahoma	7-1
10	University of Florida	7-2
11	Auburn University	7-2
12	Baylor University	8-0
13	University of Wisconsin	6-2
14	University of Michigan	7-2
15	University of Notre Dame	6-2
16	Kansas State University	6-2
17	University of Minnesota	8-0
18	University of Iowa	6-2
19	Wake Forest University	7-1
20	University of Cincinnati	7-1
21	University of Memphis	8-1
22	Boise State University	7-1
23	Oklahoma State University	6-3
24	United States Naval Academy	7-1
25	Southern Methodist University	8-1

And... they're already controversial. Here is a short and non-exhaustive list of complaints:

• Clemson is the defending champs and they're undefeated but left out because B1G SEC bias.
• Alabama has played no one (except everyone on their schedule). 
• LSU has played almost no one (except everyone on their schedule).
• Minnesota is B1G and they're undefeated, too. And they're not even top 10?
• Baylor is undefeated!

All of these complaints are at once both valid and stupid. They all make a point that will change next Tuesday as Alabama, LSU and Penn State all face conference opponents this Saturday. Ironically, this fact bolsters both arguments for and arguments against expansion beyond four teams. The "for" camp can argue that having Bama square off against LSU is a strength of schedule boost, a plus for inclusion of either or both in the final slate. The "against" crowd can argue that this is why we play the regular season and why diminish it by letting the regular season loser sneak in?

The constant debate over the post-season process is a distraction that diminishes interest in the sport of college football. It's not about the game anymore. Did you know that there is a profession called historiography? It's the study of history writing. That's where we are--instead of discussing college football, we're discussing schtuff that has as much to do about the game of football as historiography has to do about who won at Yorktown.

I miss when the Sugar Bowl matched the south against the north and the Rose Bowl pit the west against the east and all the other bowls were just post-season fun. And we debated all off-season long about who was best.

Awesome: Your President Donald Trump will be at Bryant-Denny Stadium for Saturday's Bama-LSU game

Who could blame him for wanting to witness a clash of the two best teams in College Football? It's a 2:40 pm kickoff. The matchup is between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the coaches and media polls. Both teams are undefeated. Both have explosive offenses and improving defenses. Both have legitimate Heisman Trophy contenders.

Via the Associated Press story at Fox10tv.com:

President Donald Trump is expected to attend Saturday's college football matchup between the two highest-ranked teams in the nation, Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama.

The Federal Aviation Administration is advising that Trump will travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for the game.

This is Trump's third recent fly-in to a major sports venue. He attended Game 5 of the World Series in the Washington DC area and a UFC match in New York earlier this month. He was met with a smattering of boos and cheers at both. However, he won Alabama by 28 points in 2016 so the likelihood that cheers will outnumber boos is pretty high.

He also watched the first half of the National Championship game in January 2018, missing Tua's brilliantly orchestrated comeback against Georgia in the second half. He then welcomed the 2017 champs to the White House.

I think Trump is a Bama fan. Why wouldn't a winner be attracted to winners?

Alabama is a 6.5 point favorite against LSU, and that means nothing

No. 2 Alabama has been installed as a 6.5-point favorite over top-ranked LSU in an SEC showdown potentially featuring two Heisman Trophy frontrunners at quarterback on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has been out since suffering a high ankle sprain in a win over Tennessee on Oct. 19. He underwent surgery the next day and missed Alabama's win over Arkansas before returning to practice in a limited capacity last week.
Alabama coach Nick Saban has maintained that Tagovailoa's availability against LSU will be a "game-time decision."

Via ESPN.

The good news: LSU hasn't played a team this good all season.

The bad news: Alabama hasn't played a team this good all season, either.

Both of these teams feature offenses that are capable of overwhelming the other team's defenses. As a result, many are expecting a high scoring game. Mac Jones is a QB like AJ McCarron. He's more than capable behind a great offensive line and using great offensive weapons. Joe Burrow is a QB a lot like AJ McCarron... and you know.

Auburn had trouble moving the ball but that team was one play away from a win against LSU. In Baton Rouge. After dark (by the 4th quarter). Auburn's offensive line sucks. Bama's doesn't.

The Tide's defense has assignment discipline issues at safety and left outside linebacker. LSU never got going against a very good (but not great) Auburn defensive front that has its own assignment issues.

Joe Burrow has two very good receivers and a very good offensive line.

Mac Jones has four great receivers, a very good pair of tight ends and an improving (still!) offensive line.

Tua Tagovailoa is listed as maybe in/maybe not just to keep the LSU braintrust uncertain. Mac could start the first series and Tua could wreck then LSU's dreams like he did to UGA in the Big One.

Alabama leads the conference in the turnover game.

The game is in Tuscaloosa but home field is no advantage in this series.

The betting line is never a prediction by oddsmakers. It's just a number that keeps betting money going equally each way. The price to bet on Alabama and get paid for being right is 6.5 points. If people keep choosing the Tide the price (line)goes up.

Watch this game be a low scoring affair. In this series, it always seems that when the stakes are this high, so is the effort.

Not all fans are happy that Alabama will play ACC opponents in future non-conference games

The Alabama football program has inked deals to play ACC opponents Florida State and Virginia Tech in future years. Alabama agreed to a home-and-home series with the Seminoles for the 2024 and 2025 seasons. The Hokies games aren't set until the 2034 and 2035 seasons.

Not all fans are happy about it.

Bama fans are ok with it, In fact, we're rather tired of the whining from other teams' fans about the Crimson Tide's "weak schedule." We'd like to see Bama play anyone, anywhere. It's not Bama's fault that no one of national consequence wants a high risk game on their schedule.

It's the fans of the other schools that aren't too keen on a Bama home-and-home.

Hokies:

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Atc4vt
Oct 31st, 10:32 AM

Maybe saban will be retired by then
17 upvotes


vtfan 90
Oct 31st, 10:33 AM

Atc4vt said... (original post) Maybe saban will be retired by then

well he would be mid 80's so he probably will be.

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Seminoles:

Why would we do this??? Do we not remember that playing bama last time literally ruined our team?

— Joey Planz (@Broseph_Planz) October 31, 2019

Joey is right. During the second half of the 2017 season opener, Alabama's relentless pass rush left FSU without their starting QB and the 'Noles saw a complete breakdown on special teams. Alabama won 24-7 and went on to win the National Championship. Florida State rashly fired Jimbo Fisher during the season, and sent the program into a downward spiral that hasn't yet hit rock bottom.

In the 2013 season opener, Alabama rode three non-offensive touchdowns to a 35-10 victory over the Hokies. The two-time defending national champions finished that season with a disappointing 11-2 record, losing the Iron Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.

To their credit, many of the Hokies' fans welcome the opportunity to play one of college football's titan programs.

So... why doesn't Alabama schedule Clemson? The answer is, Bama has tried to. The last time the teams met during the regular season, Alabama walloped the Tigers 34-10 to open the 2008 season. IBCR has learned that the Alabama Athletics Dept has reached out "more than once" to Clemson since current head coach and Alabama grad Dabo Swinney was hired. Clemson has been "not very keen" on playing two SEC opponents every season (Clemson faces South Carolina every year in their regular season finale).

It's also worth noting that both Clemson and Florida State ended up firing their coaches after disappointing seasons that started with lopsided losses to Bama. Maybe Dabo's onto something...

Free Mac Jones!

Believe it or not, Mac Jones may be a critical part of Alabama's trek to a title. The question may then may be whether or how much he grows in the next three weeks. You tell me if I'm saying what you're thinking.

First, let's set the table. Tua Tagovailoa suffered the dreaded "high ankle sprain" in the first half against Tennessee last week. He underwent surgery the next day and was said "to be out for a few weeks," or something like that. So Mac will be the starter against Arkansas tomorrow night. He'll work with a healthy receiving corps, an improving offensive line and a pair of running backs who have gotten better as the season has progressed.

Arkansas is 2-5 and appears headed for a bad 5-7 (at best) or a dreadful 3-9 (at worst) final record. But the Razorbacks are not without teeth or talent. Defense was supposed to be the plus side of a talented but young team that just needed time to jell. It hasn't happened as well as hoped, but the team is good enough to make Alabama work a little harder with a backup quarterback.

The reason I say Jones' development over the next two weeks could be so important is that there's a high likelihood that Tua won't be ready enough for the onslaught that will be a ferocious LSU defense. Jones may get the start again, with big time stakes on the table. How much he grows with things running at real game day speed will make tomorrow night a must watch game.

Now we have to ask: How much will freedom will Nick Saban and Steve Sarkisian give Mac? I would like to see him given all the leeway he wants, even if that means he makes mistakes he can learn from. Arkansas won't have the  horses to turn those mistakes into an upset so if those mistakes become important lessons to use against LSU, all the better.

There's also the issue of Jones being right-handed playing with an offense that's used to the motions and tendencies of a southpaw. The blind side has flipped, the quarterback moves differently and the ball spins the other way. That's gonna be a thing to watch all night. What does the brain trust do to mitigate risk that they weren't doing before? I think playing safe and shrinking the playbook would be a mistake but hey... for a football genius your beloved blogger makes for a brilliant economist, so...

I think a player who might please us all is another quarterback, Slade Bolden. New Orleans Saints' fans will recognize what a threat he could be in (dare I say it?) the Boldcat Formation. But not many previews of this game are talking about how important a play or three out of this situation could give future opponents a real planning headache.

Can we give Tua Tagovailoa a break, please?

Why are people angry or resentful towards a 21-year old football player who has yet to make a real adult decision in his whole life? Can any of those venting frustration at him remember when they were 21? When that's all they ever were was 21 at the time?

Just in case you're a cave dweller who hasn't heard, Tua Tagovailoa suffered a  dreaded "high ankle sprain" late in the second quarter last Saturday night when a Tennessee defender tried to tackle him from behind. He left the game walking on his own two feet, but sat out the second half and will miss the game this Saturday.

Man... the angst of the Bama Nation is so thick you can taste it. No, it's so thick you can wear it.

The chief lines of complaint from some Bama fans is that the phenom tries too hard. He therefore puts himself at risk of serious injury when he doesn't have to. When he tries too hard, he makes mistakes. His impetuousness is selfishness manifested when he tries to make something out of nothing. He's hurting himself and his NFL draft prospects because he makes himself injury prone.

Stop lying. Stop lying to yourself, and stop pretending that the only reason for your concern is that you're thinking of him. No, you're not. You're whining because when he's not playing, the Tide's chance of winning every single game  and winning a championship for your tribe favorite football team goes down. You aren't anxious for Tua. You're anxious for yourself.

You've waited since January to get the chance to cheer and brag and strut again. You realize that a healthy Tua is a big reason why you've been able to relax and enjoy a 7-0 record and No. 1 ranking in the polls. Bama's doing the work. They're getting ish done and he's kickin' ass and takin' names and he's why.

Then Tua goes and does something hasty or, in your estimation, "ill-advised." As if you had taken that snap, rolled to your left and would not have gotten your ankle rolled up a split second after your "well-advised" decision to hold that ball just one more fraction of a second.

There are 10 other gifted athletes sharing the field with Tua Tagovailoa. They make him better; he makes them better. It's a team. They play together. You're on the team, too. You cheer and they play. Coaches make judgments and decisions and you don't. You're ok when they're ok. What?

Tua is the most remarkable athlete to play quarterback at Alabama in my memory. He may be the best ever. He's certainly the most selfless I've ever seen, so the selfishness of fans venting on talk radio, social media and even water cooler soapboxes is appalling. For cripes sake... the guy is trying to make a play against Alabama's most storied rival. At home. In a night game. With 100,000 or so watching in person and millions more watching via live TV. At age 21. Would I be brave when I was that age...

You have the gall to complain? You act like your real concern is his health and well-being. Be honest. Your real fear is that without Tua, your team isn't good enough to win it all. By extension, you might look bad and you might have to face tribes fans of other teams if your tribe team isn't the very best.

Thankfully, Tua is not seriously injured. He will heal. He's under the care of the best physicians in college sports medicine. His tenacity and spirit is unquestionable. He'll be fine, but I seriously wonder whether some fans are healthy enough not to look for a scapegoat if the tribe doesn't finish first.

It's just a game. He's just 21. He'll be fine and so will you. If you want to be.

Roll Tide.

Bama QB Tua Tagovailoa undergoes surgery for high-ankle sprain

The bad news is that Tua Tagovailoa sprained his ankle.

The good news is twofold: It's not the same ankle he injured against UGA in the SEC Championship Game and; it is the same surgery he had last year. The new technique had him near 100% by the time Oklahoma showed up in the playoff semifinal.

Via ESPN with a statement from Coach Nick Saban:

"Our physicians performed a successful tight-rope procedure on his right ankle this morning," Alabama coach Nick Saban said in a statement. "This is the same injury, but the opposite ankle that Tua injured last season. Tua will miss next week's game against Arkansas, but we expect a full and speedy recovery."

...

Tagovailoa, who currently leads the FBS in QBR (95.6), has thrown 27 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

The junior from Hawaii had the "tightrope" procedure on his other ankle following the SEC Championship Game last season and returned in time to compete in the College Football Playoff.

I dunno about y'all, but I really wish he'd stop trying to be a hero. The boy might get hurt, or something.

From the SEC Network: "The standard in college football is going to reside in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.”

Here's a brief video snippet from Saturdays in the South, the very nice series on the very best conference in college football.

For most Bama fans, this game was a turning the corner moment. For 16 years before it, and despite one SEC Championship in 1999 10 years before it, fans just didn't quite get a sense that the Tide was back in its righteous place at the top of college football. This game ended that doubt.

“Florida is no longer going to be the standard in college football. The standard in college football is going to reside in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.”

— @GregMcElroy | Saturdays in the South pic.twitter.com/9DmEcKpA62

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 18, 2019

Extra point: Has it really been 10 years since that magical season?