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?

Solved: Why Georgia can’t beat Alabama

From the pinky to the thumb, we have beat you like a drum.

For those of you in East Phenix City, that’s Five in a Row.

The reason why this is so has vexed Bulldog faithful since this streak started in 2008. The Georgia braintrust (snicker) went out and lured away the best defensive coordinator in the country as their head coach and well…

Even when Alabama looked down and out and beaten about, Georgia still lost and now finally… here’s the reason why.

This is the best sandwich in the state. 

Georgia… Seriously? Pimiento Cheese?

It’s not just that their best is what every fifth grader in the great State of Alabama (indeed, the rest of the nation) hated so much that they needed therapy for mommy issues later in life. It’s also that the damnable thing is made with plain ol’ white toast, and comes with Fritos corn chips.  Worst of all, you have to make it yourself. Right there. In the restaurant. In front of everybody.

Hey there, lil’ doggie… did your mommy also pack a few pitted prunes for your fruit snack? Skim milk too, right?

Alabama’s best makes Chick Fil A mildly jealous. Slow smoked for three hours, hand-separated, dunked with a spicy, tangy white BBQ sauce and topped with slaw. It’s Big Bob’s Chicken and it’s a world class champ, baby.

This is serious business. You take this lightly at your gravest peril, sir. You too, madam.

Bama’s other SEC foes don’t offer much better.

Mississippi offers up a pig’s ear sandwich (they really do eat everything but the oink).

Arkansas spoils golden catfish with fried baloney.

Unsurprisingly, Florida’s Cubano ain’t even American. Would the last Gator to leave please bring our flag?

At least Louisiana does it half right with a Po’ Boy but half wrong with the wrong restaurant (Mother’s owns everybody else).

My momma always said that you are what you eat, and we ain’t nothin’ but a winner.

The 2018 Alabama Crimson Tide football season is a storybook still being written

I knew the Georgia Bulldogs would be a real test for Alabama. I just didn’t expect it to be an essay exam. Kirby Smart had a nearly perfect game plan for an Alabama offense led by Tua Tagovailoa. But for the second time in two years, he had no good answer for a backup QB coming in and snatching a sure win away from him. Just like the 2018 Championship Game last January, the entry of the backup signal caller completely changed the texture and flow of the game and just like last time, Alabama snatched the glory at the very end.

Give Georgia their due, because they were clearly the better team until the QB change. That’s the way it was last year. I agree with Coach Smart—Alabama would not want to have to play them again. Not this season, anyway. I still think they’re one of the four best teams in the country right now, two losses or not.

Rightly or wrongly, Smart will never live down that fateful, failed fake punt on 4th and 11. At midfield. With the game tied at 28. With 3:04 left in the to play in regulation. Jalen Hurts—who this season swallowed both pride and ego to accept the backup role in the year of the transfer QB—promptly led the team down the field. He took the ball the last 15 yards and scored the winning TD on the ground.

Truth be told, Georgia’s defense was gassed and probably couldn’t have stopped a fresh Jalen, the best offensive line on the SEC, three bowling balls for running backs and the best receiver corps in the country. Bama was going to score. Kirby just made it easier for Hurts to get it done.

This has been an amazing season. En route to an undefeated regular season, Alabama beat all of its opponents by 20 or more points. That has never happened in the history of a game we now recognize as “college football.” (Forget the 1888 Yale reference; it doesn’t count when you can’t throw the football).

At 13-0, Alabama is the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. It is Alabama’s 5th appearance in the Top Four. That’s never happened before. The No. 1 seed has never gone on to win both playoff games and claim the title, either.

Alabama will face No. 4 seed Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on December 29. The last time Alabama and Oklahoma faced each other in the Orange Bowl, Coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant’s Crimson Tide shut out Bud Wilkinson’s Sooners by a score of 17-0. Alabama has not beaten Oklahoma since, going 0-3-1.

Alabama has never had a Heisman Trophy winning QB. That looks almost certain to change next Saturday, as Tagovailoa looks like a lock to claim college football’s highest individual honor. This is despite the parade of great QB’s in Alabama history. Bart Starr. Joe Namath. Kenny Stabler. Richard Todd. Jay Barker. Greg McElroy. AJ McCarron.

Alabama has won back-to-back national titles before. In fact, it’s happened four times: 1925 & 1926; 1964 & 1965. 1978 & 1979. 2011 & 2012.

The 2011-2012 teams won back-to-back titles in the BCS era, something no one had done before. If Alabama wins out by beating Oklahoma and the winner of No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame, it will claim back-to-back 2017 and 2018 national titles in the College Football Playoff era. That’s never been done before, either.

Given all of this never-been-done-before backdrop, you just can’t escape the sense that this season is extra special for a football program that is already storied and, dare we say blessed? Each of the four teams in the Playoff have won multiple titles. It’s impossible to recount the history of this game without including reverent references to Alabama, Notre Dame and Oklahoma. And hey, Clemson’s been in the Top Four now four times, losing twice to Alabama and beating them once. Their head coach is Alabama grad Dabo Swinney, who wears a national championship ring he won as part of Bama’s 1992 squad.

Alabama has lost to Notre Dame for a title and beaten them for one, too.

Oh, Oklahoma has seven titles, including back-to-back crowns in 1955 & 1956. This is storybook stuff. This is end-of-days stuff, y’all. 

Since (almost, I think) no one reading this will have to prepare for Oklahoma, we can look ahead. We don’t have to take it one game at a time. We can fully expect to see Alabama beat a very good 12-1 Oklahoma Sooners team, and then square off against either an undefeated Notre Dame in a rematch of the 2013 BCS Championship Game or another undefeated Clemson for the fourth straight time in the College Football Playoff. And as Bama fans, we expect this storybook to end with the Tide winning it all and everyone living happily ever after. 

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

No decision on punishment for alleged “dirty plays” in SEC Championship Game

The Southeastern Conference media relations office has said that the league yet to decide issuing suspensions for at least two alleged unnecessary roughness plays that occurred during the 2012 SEC football championship game played last Saturday in Atlanta. Alabama won the game in dramatic fashion by the score of 32-28.

The first controversial call came in the second quarter. As Alabama’s AJ McCarron was throwing the ball near the end zone, Georgia’s Alec Ogletree came in and delivered a massive blow to the Tide QB. The pass fell incomplete and Ogletree was penalized for a personal foul.

The second call also came in the second quarter. Georgia’s Aaron Murray was intercepted by Alabama’s Ha’Sean “Ha Ha” Clinton-Dix. During Clinton-Dix’s return, Alabama’s Quinton Dial laid a punishing hit on the Georgia QB. No flag was thrown on the play.

Georgia will square off against Nebraska in the Capital One Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Alabama will face Notre Dame in the BCS Championship Game on January 7.

Both Ogletree and Dial are healthy and expected to play if they are cleared by the conference. Commissioner Mike Slive is traveling and has not yet had an opportunity to review these (and possibly other) extracurricular activities during the game, according to Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News.

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Memories Monday: 1992, or 2012?

The 2012 SEC Championship game—won by Alabama over Georgia by the score of 32-28 is being touted by many as the best and most exciting game in the history of the championship series.

It was a great one—decided on the game’s final play. Alabama’s CJ Mosley tipped a pass from Georgia’s Aaron Murray, which fell into the arms of the wrong receiver. He fell to the turf and the clock ran out.

But is this the Best Ever?

ESPN made a documentary on the 1992 Championship Game. Not only was it just as exciting, it changed the course of college football history forever.

Check out the trailer for that documentary below.

 

At a painfully frigid Legion Field on December 5, 1992, the league’s best defense met the league’s best offense in a classic matchup between the irresistible force and the immovable object. The immovable object held the day, but it took two 4th quarter heroic plays to get the final score, 28-21, Alabama.

Late in the 4th with about 3:00 remaining and the score tied at 21, Florida took over at its 21 yard line. On first down, play from scrimmage, Shane Matthews' pass was intercepted by Alabama’s Antonio Langham at the 27.  He weaved and juked his way into the endzone. Michael Proctor kick made it 28-21. 

Steve Spurrier and the Gators had one last chance to tie it up again. On 2nd and 10 from the Florida 39, Matthews' down pass was tipped and intercepted by Michael Rogers near midfield. Alabama ran out the clock, and that was that.

The first ever SEC Championship Game remained the most exciting for the next 20 years. The 20th of course was Saturday’s thrilling game. It’s been a great series. There have been a few very competitive games and a few yawners, but every year it puts the best of the west against the best of the east, and for the seventh straight time, the winner will play for the BCS National Championship.

So which game was the best ever? The very first one, or the one we just watched? The debate may rage for years.

Speaking of memories, if you’re shopping for Alabama sports memorabilia for holiday gifts, check out A Tiny Kingdom Sports. They have a high quality (and growing) inventory of game worn items, signed helmets, jerseys and photos and more. They’re a new sponsor here at IBCR. Show them your support and support this website at the same time.

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UGA’s Mark Richt has lost control of the media

Granted, it was an emotional coach following a gut-wrenching loss and an absolutely moronic question about Georgia’s and Aaron Murray’s big game jinx. I doubt any coach in the same setting would have reacted much differently.

It’s what he did after getting up to leave that doesn’t make sense.

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Quotables: SEC Championship Game

Surely, this has to be the best game that offensive line has ever played.

"Uh, no," Kouandijo said. "Honestly, it wasn't. We had a lot of good numbers, but honestly, we left a lot of offense out on that field. We have a lot to work on, still."

Oh, I don't want to believe that. I'm sick of the SEC. I don't like when the same teams win all the time. It's boring. I'm sick of Alabama, which is going for its third title in four years, the way I got sick of USC a while back.

I want to believe that Notre Dame will beat Alabama with the same defense-and-discipline approach that has fueled some of the greatest upsets in college football history. I want to believe this is like Penn State shocking Miami in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl, or Ohio State shocking Miami in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl.

But I just watched Alabama. And then I talked to Alabama players, and besides being so maddeningly nice and aggravatingly polite, they sound so much like Saban that it's frightening.

* * *

"Well, you know, I'm always thinking what I'm going to say to the team, what the team has to do next," Saban said later in a quiet moment in one corner of a near deserted Alabama locker room. "And I usually write all that stuff down. And I had written that we had a 3 p.m. team meeting tomorrow, but I hadn't written down that we have a team banquet tomorrow night.

"So I was thinking about, what are we doing next here?"

Saban took a moment, shook his head slightly, sheepishly laughing at himself.

"I mean, you just won a championship, they haven't even given us the trophy yet and I'm already thinking about what's next, what do we have to do next?" he said.

* * *

We came into the game and said it was going to be a 15-round fight," Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker said. "It was. It went down to the bitter end."

How much of a battle was it? Alabama All-American center Barrett Jones injured his foot in the first quarter but played through excruciating pain for the next 50 minutes. He left the Crimson Tide locker room on crutches. Alabama nose guard Jesse Williams wrecked his right knee with 13:13 left in the third quarter, and it looked like he wouldn't be able to return as he limped around the Tide sideline for several minutes, before retiring to the bench with a towel over his head.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, though, Williams was back in the game at fullback, opening a hole for tailback Eddie Lacy on a 1-yard touchdown that gave the Tide a 25-21 lead with 14:57 left. Williams said he'll have an MRI on his injured knee Sunday.

"Once I knew it wasn't anything serious, I knew I could go back in the game and fight through it," said Williams, a 320-pound senior from Australia who sports a tattoo on the side of his head that reads, "Pain Is A Liar."

* * *

"Man, it stinks," said Murray, the quarterback, and he really didn't need to say anything more.

For Georgia, it did stink, in the worst way possible. The Bulldogs led this game 7-0. They led it 21-10. They fell behind, fought back, fell behind again and had one more chance to win it with 68 seconds and 85 yards to go. And all they needed was one more play to become legends, to change the entire star-crossed history of Georgia's program since its last national title in 1980. Instead, they dressed mostly in silence, knowing they're headed for a consolation bowl game that will likely be forgotten the moment it ends.

"I mean, it hurts me. We fought for this," linebacker Jarvis Jones said. "We had a great offseason and had a great season. Our goal was to come here and win it, and we fell short of that. You're always going to think about it. Four yards short of going to the BCS game. You're always going to think about that, no matter what success you have in life."

* * *

They had a chance at the end, with quarterback Aaron Murray having driven the team from its own 28 to the Alabama 8 with 15 seconds left. At that point, we can debate whether Murray should have spiked the ball to reset the offense. But suffice to say, the game ended with a tipped pass that was caught at Tide’s 5, the final seconds ticked off and one team celebrated its impending berth in the BCS championship game while the other collapsed in exhaustion, uncertain of its bowl status.

The irony here was that Georgia probably gained more respect in defeat than in any of its 11 victories. The Dogs were criticized for a perceived soft schedule, for the way they were physically hammered be South Carolina, for the hiccups at Kentucky.

Yet on Saturday, even the opposing coach, Nick Saban, was moved to comment: “I think it’s a crying shame if Georgia doesn’t get to go to a BCS bowl game. That game came down to the last play. It’s ridiculous. Some teams are 7-5 and talking about winning their conference and going to a BCS bowl game? Something’s not right here.”

* * *

“C.J. came on it,” Smart said. “We talked about it all week and said we would do it if we had the situation. It played out perfectly. He batted the ball. Probably a good thing the guy caught it. Otherwise, they get another snap. It cost them the game, the guy catching it.”

“We run that route a lot of times, because when you run the speed-out, it grabs the attention of the cornerback,” Georgia head coach Mark Richt said. “You try to get the corner thinking the ball might be going to the inside receiver (Conley) and then throw it over the top (to Mitchell).

“We were taking a shot at the end zone right there. But the ball got batted, so what can you do?”

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ESPN does an EA Simulation of the SEC Championship Game

Those expecting a close, hard-fought game in Atlanta Saturday night will probably like this highlight reel from ESPN’s EA Sports simulation.

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Podcast with Leather Helmet Blog’s Greg and Soc

I spent some time talking football with Greg and Soc from the Leather Helmet Blog. LHB is as serious about Georgia sports as IBCR is about Alabama. These are two classy and knowledgeable Georgia fans (I know, right) and some serious football discussion was had.

The first segments dealt with the coaching search and NCAA turmoil at our common rival. Shocka: These guys don’t like Auburn very much either.

Give it a listen and follow LHB for Georgia football coverage.

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Georgia preview: In a contest of immense talent, intangibles might make the difference

Georgia preview: In a contest of immense talent, intangibles might make the difference

Published on Tidefans.com | shared via feedly

This is, after all, the program that orchestrated a “blackout” in 2008 when Alabama came to visit Athens, was penalized en masse once after the entire team celebrated a touchdown against Florida in 2007 and has been criticized for too much flash over substance for several seasons, occasionally landing Richt on somewhat of a hot seat. 

 It makes for an interesting dichotomy for Richt, who outwardly projects the image of family man and a man of strong faith, but whose football team seems to take most of its cues from Richt’s alma mater, the University of Miami. It’s reflected somewhat in the amount of penalties each team gets – Alabama received the fewest of any SEC team, while Georgia ranked 10th in the conference in the stat, averaging nearly 7 flags a contest to 4 for the Crimson Tide. 

 It would seem, looking at the way these two teams have prepared for the game thus far this week, Alabama is going about its work in a business-as-usual fashion. With Georgia spending so much time concerned about image, “swag” and the importance of the game itself, the Bulldogs look to be wound as tight as a Titleist.

No spoilers here--go read the rest for Jess' prediction on the 2012 SEC Championship Game.

Jess may be a Bama homer (he freely admits it) but he's an honest and objective one. He calls'em like he sees'em and few prognosticators are willing to back up their judgment the way he does.

Go read the whole thing. Whether you're a bammer or a bullpup, you'll agree that it's a sound analysis.

SEC Championship Game Tickets Still Available

Via our friends at SeatCrunch.com, there are still tickets available for the matchup between Alabama and Georgia.

Game tickets are available from about $380 and SEC Fanfare start at $20 (Fanfare tickets are not game tickets).

Parking passes are also available.

Full disclaimer: IBCR is a member of SeatCrunch’s affiliate program and receives a small commission on each sale.

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Mark Richt has lost control of his players’ mouths

It’s one thing to be facing an Alabama team gaining steam in its drive towards history. It’s quite another to be facing that Alabama team when it’s pissed off. The Tide needs absolutely no extra motivation to play its best in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday. That isn’t stopping Georgia football players, who are spewing streams of locker room material. Mark Richt has totally lost control, you guys.

Baccari Rambo, speaking via telephone on ESPN’s College Football Final, said "I feel like we are more talented. We have better players at each position, across the board, especially on defense.” Really? Across the board? Rambo is a heck of a defensive back and he’s a lock for either first or second team All Name honors. But he’s not very smart.

“I think we’re the best defense in the country,” senior cornerback Sanders Commings said Monday after practice.

“I think confidence is just another word for swagger. We step on a field and our swag is turned way up, like we can shut anybody down and shut anybody out. In order to be good, you have to be confident. You have to have that swagger.”

UGA noseguard John Jenkins has been quoted as saying that Alabama’s offensive line—widely regarded as one of the best in college football—is “nothing special.” When specifically asked about his counterpart Barrett Jones at Center, he said he couldn’t really tell the difference between him and any of the others.

Smack talk like this is a major reason why Nick Saban limits media access to only certain players on the team and it’s absolutely the reason he doesn’t let freshmen talk at all.

It’s Ok to express confidence in your team. It’s Ok to think that you’re good enough to beat anybody you play. It’s borderline insanity to directly compare yourself to an upcoming opponent and trash them.

Both teams are 11-1. They are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the BCS, and the winner will play Notre Dame for the national championship. You don’t reach this level in college football by being “nothing special” and that’s especially true in the country’s toughest conference.

Alabama Strength and Conditioning Coach Scott Cochran is a master at using opponents’ trash talk to motivate the football team. You can bet that every bit of smack coming out of the mouths of the Bulldog players is either being plastered all over the weight room, or being played back through the audio system.

Whoops.

Update: I originally had both teams at 10-1. I guess I’m still stuck in the 90’s.

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Alabama begins week as early favorite against Georgia

Per his Twitter account, USA Today Sports Analyst says Alabama will be a six point favorite over Georgia in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game.

He gave his opinion in response to a question from MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, an unabashed Alabama fan.

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Bama Gymnastics Looking to Vault to Third SEC Title in Four Years

By: @LivingCrimson

After practice on Friday, Head Coach Sarah Patterson kicked off the Tide’s run in this year’s SEC Championships with a rousing declaration: “There is nothing like competing in the Southeastern Conference.”

Five of the nation's top 10 teams are from the SEC: 1. Florida, 3. Alabama, 5. Georgia, 8. LSU and 10. Arkansas. Auburn is ranked No. 15 and Kentucky is ranked No. 24. "It is the closest thing to the finals of the NCAA Championships that you can get," said Patterson, who can remember one year when five of the six teams in the NCAA finals were from the SEC.

Defending SEC, Regional and National Champions, Bama arrived at the SEC championships this weekend peaking at the right time. It is undefeated in SEC competition (6-0-0), boasting an overall 11-1-0 record (the only loss to No. 2 Oklahoma).

The Tide has never won back-to-back SEC titles. Senior Ashley Priess doesn’t dwell on what might happen, but on “mental toughness and being fierce.” She has a will-not-be-denied attitude: "We're reversing that mindset and putting that target on everyone else's back, and we're kind of coming into this meet with this revenge mindset of we want to go out there, we want to absolutely dominate the competition, team up, work together and get the job done.”

Alabama is led by the senior All-America and All-SEC duo of Ashley Priess and Geralen Stack-Eaton. Priess is a two-time SEC champion, winning the 2010 all-around and balance beam titles. Stack-Eaton won the balance beam and floor exercise titles last season, leading the Tide to the 2011 SEC team championship. Priess and Stack-Eaton were also integral to the Tide’s 2009 SEC Championship as freshmen. Alabama also returns five other gymnasts who have earned All-SEC honors, including juniors Ashley Sledge and Marissa Gutierrez and sophomores Kim Jacob, Sarah DeMeo and Diandra Milliner.

Coach Patterson has high praise for this Crimson Tide team, particularly for the seniors.

---

“I don’t think there are too many classes that can say everybody

in their class is an All-American, Scholastic All-American

and they’ve won all these championships.”

---

The SEC title meet begins at 4:00 p.m.ET. Live updates will be available from the SEC Digital Network.

Roll Tide, Ladies!

(P.S. – #StatueforSarah video from ESPNU Campus Connection reporter Kassidy Hill)

Video courtesy of www.gymnastike.org

Video courtesy of www.gymnastike.org

All feedback is appreciated. Comments on this article can be posted to LivingCrimson on Twitter or Facebook.