Finally, a real test for Alabama

The Alabama Crimson Tide’s 11-game streak of wins by 20 or more points could come to an end Saturday.

No team in the history of football as we know it has done this. The last time it happened (Yale, 1888), neither the forward pass nor the football helmet had been invented. The streak is in serious jeopardy, and the team that threatens to derail Alabama’s train to the title is the same one that Bama hadn’t led through four quarters of last year’s College Football Playoff championship game.

Both the Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs have seen roster changes since January 2018. The most notable change has been at QB for Alabama. Heisman shoo-in Tua Tagovailoa took over at halftime against UGA last time, but now he’s had a jaw-droppingly good season with more 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-, 60- and yes 70-yard passes than anyone else. He’s had more touchdown passes than incompletions in more games than anyone else on the planet. He reads defenses like Evelyn Wood read Dr. Seuss books and he’s as deadly running the ball as he is throwing it.

UGA has reloaded on a defense that sacked Tua last January and created the now Glorious 2nd and 26.  The strength of the Bulldog defense is the linebacking corps in Kirby Smart’s Sabanesque 3-4 over/under scheme. This defense will attempt to do the same thing LSU, Mississippi State and Auburn tried to do: get pressure on Tua, make him throw a second or so before he wants to and try to pick up a turnover here or there.

Offensively, QB Jake Fromm is a year older and better. He’s not Tua, but he has two very good running backs in Elijah Holyfield and D’Andre Swift. These are guys that could legit start for Bama. And, he’s still got the “other Ridley,” Riley. Georgia has a fine football team that has shamed many good opponents and lost only to an LSU team that played way over its pay grade for one day.

Alabama’s defense is still getting better each week and looks like there’s still room to grow. A lot of speculation rumbles about LB Terrell Lewis returning, but even if he does play (I’ll be mildly surprised if he does), his time away from big-time college football will limit his impact. At the start of the season, the Tide defense lacked only experience. That box has been checked. Bama is at or near the top in every defensive statistic. The team is hard to run on consistently and the secondary has grown into an elite unit.

What gives Bama the edge is a solid and tested offensive line that is just a bit better than UGA’s defensive front, and a defensive front of its own that is at worst a tossup against UGA’s blocking crew.

That, and Nick Saban, who is winning his way into becoming the best college football coach ever.

As this is being posted, Alabama is about a 12 point favorite. I think this will be a good game through mid 4th quarter, with Bama icing it with a late TD.

Alabama 35, Georgia 17

I’m the Ole Miss coaching search committee, and I’m trimming the “short list”

I’m Archie Manning, FedEx Vice President Mike Glenn, and an as-yet-to be named committee of Ole Miss Yes Men. I haven’t met yet, but I’ve already put together this list of coaches I’m going after. I’ve also put together a list of coaches that have no chance of moving to Oxford.

Here are the coaches that WILL NOT be on the “short list” to take over the Ole Miss Rebels at the end of the season.

Mike Leach. Sure, he’s interested. He did something with almost nothing in the middle of nowhere (nee, Lubbock) Texas. He’s coached and recruited in the SEC and his wide open offense was exciting to watch. But Coach Arrgghh is involved in a bitter contract dispute with his former employer and is also suing ESPN for defamation of character. ESPN pours billions in the the SEC and what conservative, business-oriented members of a search committee want to interview a guy who sues his former employers?

Rich Rodriguez. Another offensive guru with a history of litigation with former employers. There’s a reason why this guy hasn’t been seriously considered as a legitimate candidate for other profiled coaching jobs since being dismissed from Michigan. But the real knock on RichRod is that in his last football game, Mississippi State shellacked him 52-14. Wouldn’t you rather have somebody who’s at least beaten your in-state rival?

Gus Malzahn. Here’s a candidate that the search committee is drooling over. But alas, we recognize that there are other, much better opportunities for a hot name assistant coach than Ole Miss. Name one? Ok. North Carolina. More populous state. More fertile recruiting territory. Less brutal competition than the SEC West. Deeper pockets and less pressure.

Kirby Smart. See the entry for Gus Malzahn. If Malzahn inexplicably turns down the North Carolina opportunity, Smart is the next best option on the table and, being that he’s at least as smart as Malzie, he sees a better opportunity at Carolina, too.

Urban Meyer. I’m a very deliberate, very intelligent search committee. I’m going to make this process last a little bit longer than the last one did, and I’m going to be reasonably sure I’m getting the best guy I can afford. Which means I’m not wasting the going after a $3.0 to $5.0 million man after paying millions to buy out Houston Nutt.

Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden. Name one successful NFL head coach who transitioned down to the college ranks and succeeded in recruiting and managing a college program. Name one who was financially set for life, repeatedly said he was happy doing what he was doing, and made the move anyway.

Names missing from this cut sheet are Houston’s Kevin Summerlin, Texas DC Manny Diaz, Southern Miss’ Larry Fedora and former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden.

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Kirby Smart, or Gus Malzahn?

A caller on WNSP 105.5’s Sports Drive yesterday afternoon had an interesting question for show hosts Pat Greenwood and Randy Kennedy. The basis for the question was the assumption that the Georgia Bulldogs have a subpar season (again) in 2011, leading to the departure of Mark Richt and a coveted opening at one of the big schools of the SEC.

It’s just as likely that Ole Miss lays an egg in 2011 and the Right Reverend Houston Nutt is shown the door. I didn’t hear whether Greenwood and Kennedy addressed a possible opening at Ole Miss, but even before these two teams face stiff nonconference opponents—BYU visits Oxford and Boise State travels to Atlanta—I see the odds at better than even that at least one of them will be in the market for a new head coach about four months from now.

The question: If you’re an SEC school looking for a head coach, do you hire an up-and-coming assistant and if so, which of the two most talked about assistants in the SEC do you go after: Alabama’s Kirby Smart, or Auburn’s Gus Malzahn?

For me, the answer is Gus Malzahn and it’s not even close.

Bulldog fans would likely stage a partial revolt if Athletics Director Greg McGarity tapped Malzahn over Smart, a Georgia alumnus and Broyles Award winning assistant coach. But if you’re looking to add excitement and pizzazz to what’s been a moribund football program over the last several seasons, Malzahn is the no-brainer.

Bama’s Kirby Smart is ready to be a head coach, too. His career includes stops at Georgia, Valdosta State, Florida State, LSU, the Miami Dolphins and Alabama. The LSU, Dolphins and Bama stints have all been with Nick Saban, arguably the best head coach in college football today. Saban has disciples coaching at Florida, Florida State and Tennessee in the SEC and Michigan State in the Big Ten. Clearly, Smart’s resume is right and he’ll be a solid head coach wherever he decides to plant his flag. But he’ll be a first-timer in the corner office.

Malzahn has been a head coach, and while it was at the high school level, he transformed programs from also-rans to offensive powerhouses. He knows how to run an organization. He’s won everywhere he’s been when he’s allowed free rein over the team’s offense. He took a woefully thin, talent-starved 5-7 2008 Auburn team and transformed it into one of the most productive attacks in the SEC. In 2009, Auburn won eight games and had undefeated Alabama on the ropes until the fourth quarter in the Iron Bowl. Few people can make chicken salad out of chicken scat like Malzahn did that year. And 14-0 last year wasn’t bad either, was it?

Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated called Malzahn “one of the sport's most innovative offensive minds, not just in the college ranks, but in all of football.” Mandel wrote that line in October 2009, getting on the Malzie bandwagon before it was trendy.

Both Malzahn and Smart are recruiting machines. Both are disciplined, experienced coaches who have won at the highest level in college football. Smart’s implementation of the Saban school of defense is crisp, physical and absolutely ferocious. But Malzahn’s offense is his offense.

Auburn faces an absolutely brutal schedule in 2011. They have away games at Clemson, South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU and Georgia. They will likely be underdogs in every one of them, and are likely underdogs hosting both Florida and Alabama. They have a wealth of young talent but a dearth of experience and senior leadership. If they can fashion an eight- or nine-win season out of that slate, it will be because Malzahn worked his magic on the offensive side of the ball and his stock will be sky high.

Smart would be a good choice for almost any program. But if Gus Malzahn is available and I’m shopping for a coach, I’m going with the wizard.

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