Clemson preview: On paper, this should be a defensive showcase
For the third straight year, Alabama and Clemson will meet in the College Football Playoff. For the third straight year, however, TideFans.com will not pick Alabama to win by a score of 23-17.
Mercer preview: Wounded Alabama hopes for a Mercer-ful respite before Auburn game
November 15, 2017 Comments Off on Mercer preview: Wounded Alabama hopes for a Mercer-ful respite before Auburn game
Mercer, a school whose program lay dormant from 1942 to 2013, is a Southern Conference member of the former Division-IAA, now called FCS. The Bears are 5-5 in 2017, put a small scare into Auburn earlier in the year, and lost by just 1 point to Wofford, which now sits at 9-1 and leads the Southern Conference standings.
Continue reading …MSU wrap-up: Hurts cementing legacy as a clutch QB
November 12, 2017 Comments Off on MSU wrap-up: Hurts cementing legacy as a clutch QB
Alabama’s Jalen Hurts accounted for nearly 100 total yards on his own in the fourth quarter (and the total would have been more than 100, if college football didn’t take sack yardage down from rushing totals), led two touchdown drives and another drive that ended when Andy Pappanastos’ field goal attempt bounced off the left upright. More or less, Hurts did the same thing to Mississippi State that he did to Clemson in last year’s national championship game, except this time the defense held the opposition out of the end zone in the end.
Continue reading …MSU preview: Bulldogs can be explosive, but can also self-destruct
November 9, 2017 Comments Off on MSU preview: Bulldogs can be explosive, but can also self-destruct
Prior to Mississippi State’s 34-23 win over UMass last week, the Bulldogs hadn’t played a single game this year that didn’t end in a blowout.
The Bulldogs had six wins, the closest margin of which was 21 points in a thumping of Texas A&M. The Bulldogs also had two losses, which came by 28 and 39 points.
Continue reading …LSU wrap-up: Bama’s victory may have been of the Pyrrhic variety
November 5, 2017 Comments Off on LSU wrap-up: Bama’s victory may have been of the Pyrrhic variety
This game was war. It began with paratroopers jumping into Bryant-Denny Stadium to deliver the game ball. By the time the game got to the fourth quarter, Alabama was looking to dig trenches and hunker down.
Continue reading …LSU Preview: Tigers hoping emotion will carry them against Tide
November 1, 2017 Comments Off on LSU Preview: Tigers hoping emotion will carry them against Tide
For the most part, SEC fans have somewhat neglected the LSU Tiger team this season, choosing to focus on Alabama, Georgia, Auburn to a lesser extent, and the coaching carousel next.
Lost is actual discussion of how good LSU is. And there’s a reason for that: the hiring of Ed Orgeron as its head coach, first on an interim basis in 2016 and since as a permanent replacement for the erstwhile popular-yet-kooky Les Miles.
Continue reading …Tennessee preview: It’s been a rocky year for UT, and not likely to get better this week
October 19, 2017 Comments Off on Tennessee preview: It’s been a rocky year for UT, and not likely to get better this week
Somewhere this week, there’s a Tennessee fan wondering how Alabama is still in business – and also wondering why his own team barely is.
One of the perhaps-apocryphal stories of Alabama’s long walk through the woods circa 1993-2007 was that then-Tennessee head coach Phil Fulmer told former Alabama RB Santonio Beard that Alabama “would be out of business in two years.”
Continue reading …Arkansas preview: Hogs lack the horses to hang with Bama
October 11, 2017 Comments Off on Arkansas preview: Hogs lack the horses to hang with Bama
Texas A&M had enough raw talent, moxie and sense of duty and loyalty to the head coach to make life interesting for Alabama last week.
Arkansas does not. Or, at least, it shouldn’t.
There’s not an easy way to talk about mismatches that occur within the borders of the conference without sounding condescending, but a cursory look at where certain teams fall in the five-year rolling average for recruiting rankings tells the story. In Texas A&M’s case, the Aggies have been in the top third of SEC classes most of those years. For Arkansas, getting out of the bottom third even one out of five times has be
Continue reading …Ole Miss preview: Time for Alabama to figure this Rebel team out
September 27, 2017 Comments Off on Ole Miss preview: Time for Alabama to figure this Rebel team out
Despite a victory over Ole Miss last year in Oxford, Nick Saban still uses the qualifier “two of the last three games” when discussing the Rebels and their ability to wreak havoc in games against Alabama.
Continue reading …Vanderbilt preview: Commodores sailing confidently after 3-0 start
September 19, 2017 Comments Off on Vanderbilt preview: Commodores sailing confidently after 3-0 start
Until now, most of Vanderbilt’s big wins the last few years have come over transitional programs – either teams in the process of moving from one tier to another in terms of prestige and respect, or larger programs undergoing great change (see: Georgia, 2016). The most impressive wins of Derek Mason’s “good era” at Vandy are Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee in 2016.
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