Week 3 Preview and Predictions

You can read my full Arkansas-Alabama game preview and prediction here


As for this weekend, there are a few other games I am interested in. The game I'm starting with should tell you all you need to know about the marquee team in said matchup. It's hilarious that this is even a game worth previewing or considering. But here we go.

1. Auburn vs. Louisiana Monroe

Sad. Just sad. This Auburn team, under Gene Chizik has started the season 0-2. This is not Chizik's first go around. Not his first or second year. This is year 4 for Chizik, and just last year at this time, Auburn was the defending national champion. 

LOL. Auburn's slogan from 2010.

And they are only favored by 16 points over a sun belt team that would be a 40 pt dog to Bama if we played today.

Nick Saban lost to the Warhawks in his first year at Bama. But that was a year of transition and disarray with former coaches players, etc, and not much leadership. That should not be the excuse if Auburn loses this game. We shouldn't even be entertaining the thought of AU losing this game. But it is very much a possibility, and alot of people think a probability. including several of my friends who are Auburn people.

Auburn appears to have one of the most inept offenses I have ever seen. It's clear that Sophomore Kiehl Frazier is NOT ready to be a starting QB in the SEC, or probably any other conference right now, but he is their best option. Auburn is also starting two freshmen on the offensive line, along with a couple other young newcomers that aren't ready, and only one veteran. They don't have a legit SEC sized and strong player at RB currently. Their only reliable receiver is a good one in Emory Blake, but really beyond Blake and center Reese Dismukes, it's hard to find any others on this side of the ball that could compete for starting jobs on any other SEC teams aside from Ole Miss and Kentucky.

If Chizik loses this game, AU will fall to 0-3, with LSU and Arkansas as their next two games. They are staring at a 1-4 start to this season, regardless of today's outcome. But I think they are going to start 0-5.

Yes, I think they are going to lose to La Monroe. And it's not just one thing that I'm basing this on. It's everything. Any way that I try to analyze this game, I can't see La Monroe not being the very likely victors.

The Warhawks QB threw for around 500 yards against Arkansas last week, in a WIN over Arkansas. He RAN about 20 yards for the game winning score in overtime. He is going to give this AU defense, which doesn't appear to be any better than any of the last few years, absolute HELL. Auburn's players AND coaches appeared to completely give up on the game somewhere around the beginning of the 3rd quarter against MSU last week. If they lose this game, they may give up on this season, and Auburn Mafioso Pat Dye may be looking for a new yes man.

Basically, I bring it all down to 2 questions? 

1. Can Auburn keep Monroe from scoring 20 points in the game. Under 20? I don't think so.
2. Can Auburn SCORE 20 points against ANYBODY right now? I am not sure. 

So I think Monroe will win this game, and that is the prediction I am going with. Now Auburn might play very well against this opponent, which IS a less talented team overall, and Monroe might still be hungover for that upset of the Razorbacks last week and AU might blow them out and make me look like an idiot. And if that happens, I will own it, even though AU will still lose the following 2 after this one.

La Monroe 23
Auburn 16

I have no reason for posting this. None.

2. Florida vs. Tennessee

While the Alabama-Arkansas game may have lost out on College Gameday because of Arkansas losing last week, Nick Saban's coaching children are damn happy to benefit from it. 

Derek Dooley and Will Muschamp are little light versions of Nick Saban. But thus far without the winning. This week, one of them is gonna be on the right path for this season at least. Whoever wins this game, will be looking forward to a possibly really good season, expecially if it's Tennessee, and the other will probably suck the rest of the year.

Hell, they might BOTH suck the rest of the year anyway. We really don't know about either of these teams yet. Florida barely beat Texas A&M and UT handily beat NC State, but those aren't great barometers at this point yet either.

I think these teams are similar in alot of ways. I think they have a similar level of coaching talent. Not that much, but about the same.

The difference for me is at the QB position, where Tennessee has a potential star, and Florida has just now decided who their guy is even going to be, and he doesn't have it together yet. 

It's this lone difference that I will go with when I call for the Vols to win. Also, Tennessee has better receivers for their superior gunslinger. I'll be rooting for Florida to win because to hell with Tennessee, but I think I'll be right on this one

Tennessee 34
Florida 23

I refuse to post a pic of hot girls wearing UT logos. So we'll just go ahead and assume that Florida has the hotter girls.

3. USC vs. Stanford

Do any of y'all really care about this game? I'd say I don't, and I really don't other than the upset possibility. It would be hilarious and awesome if Stanford could pull off the upset, but I'm not gonna call it.

Matt Barkley 49
Stanford 35

Alabama-Arkansas Preview And Prediction

Poor Bobby.

Bobby Petrino left a mess when he took that motorcycle ride back in the spring. He left a mess on the highway, and in the Athletic Department when he was subsequently fired for embarrassing the university. But he had no idea, nor could anyone else, the mess that would be left.

John L. Smith was hired to take his place, on an interim basis. John L. Smith, y'all. Too many LOL's to even get into. All you need to do is look at what happened Saturday night against Louisiana Monroe to see what everyone should've expected when Smith was named the man in charge. He is a clown. Hell, I wish he'd never leave.

This guy wants Petrino back.

Smith also has no idea what he is getting into this Saturday afternoon. And that is whether he has his star QB Tyler Wilson on the field or not. Wilson was beat to hell and back by LaMo Saturday night, to the point that he was put out of the game with what they called a head injury. A concussion was what was said at first. Then it was reported somewhere that he had a broken collarbone and would be out for possibly a month or more. Then that talk quickly turned back to that it was a head injury, and on Monday Arkansas stated that Wilson was day to day. Smith added that having Wilson back for practice this week would be "The icing on the cake". 

What cake, John? All I see you eating is crow. That is, if you ever seriously meant it when you said this would be a championship season at Arkansas. Good one.

Tyler Wilson, if he plays.

I think they are BS'ing us about Wilson, so that we will prepare for him regardless. Too bad Wilson doesn't play 3 or 4 positions on defense as well, or we'd really have something to worry about. If Wilson plays, he won't be 100 %. And if he's even close to that, he won't be in the game for very long when Bama gets done with him. Everyone knows they will come at him from all angles and absolutely pound him. La Monroe was able to get all over him. Alabama will re-injure whatever injury he may have to a greater extent. 

If he plays, and lasts the whole game, I still don't see Arkansas coming within 10 points. Bama will have no problem scoring over 30 points in this game, maybe 40. With Wilson at his best, they only scored 14 last year and wouldn't get over 20 this year. If Wilson doesn't play at all, they have ZERO shot and this could turn into a 30 something point beatdown with Bama's backups in the game for the 4th quarter. 

The Hogs will also be without their best corner, Tevin Mitchel who was hurt in the ULM game as well, with that they have termed "an injury above the shoulders". These people are bad at describing injuries. AJ is going to throw for another 4 TD's if they're not careful. And maybe even if they are.

Entering the season, this was one of the biggest games of the season. It was a top 10 matchup. College Gameday was going to be there. It would be the first test for two teams who were each expected to compete for the National Title. Thanks for screwing all that up, Piggies. Now Gameday will be at the Tennessee-Florida game. Now that Arkansas has been knocked completely out of the top 25, there is also another interesting tidbit of info for this game: Alabama has won their last 32 games against unranked opponents. The last unranked opponent that we lost to was in 2007. It was the same team that just beat Arkansas and the same team that is about to beat Auburn. Louisiana Freaking Monroe. If Monroe does win this Saturday, I say we trade Ole Miss for them. Seems fair, at this point. Also, entering the season, Alabama was a 6 pt favorite in this game. With the current events, that line has risen to 22 points and higher in some places. That's crazy.

CBS's Gary Danielson said on Tuesday on the Paul Finebaum radio show that Arkansas's only chance in this game is to give Bama a heavy dose of RB Knile Davis. Davis may be a bruiser, but he's not what he was before his injury last year, and even if he was. I'm not afraid of any dose of ANY running back in the country against our D. That's one thing that nobody is going to do on a consistent basis, run the ball.

I can't help but like Gary. He entertains me. I look forward to hearing him call the game. But I swear to God, if he mentions Tim Tebow or Cam Newton ONE TIME during this week's game....

At least he's better than Verne Lundquist, who doesn't even know how to pronounce players names. Orlando McCain says hi.

I think CJ Mosley will be one of the key players for Bama on defense regardless of who Arky's QB is, because he is such an asset in pass coverage, and Arky's leading receiver is their tight end, who CJ will more often than not be matched up against in the middle. Look for a pick for CJ. I'm gonna go ahead and call that one.

As for the predicted score, I still think there are ways that Arkansas could give us problems, but the matchup in the trenches favors Bama greatly on both sides. This could be similar to the Michigan game and I'll predict a similar score

Alabama 44
Arkansas 13


Funny stuff I found around the web:

This is actually kinda cool in a weird way.

No words.

Woo Pig Tramp stamp!

Week Two ( A Look Back)

I know I only predicted 3 games (4 if you include the Bama one), but once again I was perfect on picking the winners. Only 2 weeks in, but I am 10-0 as far as just picking winners (11-0 if you count the Bama game this week, which I don't cause that was obvious). READ MY FULL BAMA-WESTERN KENTUCKY RECAP HERE

With my 10-0 record, I was once again very close on a couple of the scores.

Auburn vs. Mississippi St.

I predicted MSU would win 23-16. I gave Auburn far too much credit, as it was a little more in each direction with MSU winning 28-10. Kiehl Frazier might be either the worse, or least prepared QB to play for AU in awhile. Up next for Auburn is La Monroe, which should be an easy victory, right? Well except for the fact that LaMo just knocked off Arkansas and AU looks like they are already giving up the season. It's gonna be almost impossible for AU to get to a bowl this year.


Georgia vs. Missouri

I predicted Georgia would win and exciting game 41-37. I was definitely right about it being exciting, and Mizzou hung in there until the 4th quarter when UGA pulled away, winning 41-20. So I NAILED the UGA score, but thought Mizzou would keep up a little better. Jarvis Jones might be the best LB in the nation. Mizzou defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson stirred up some shit in the week before saying that Georgia was boring and was "Old man football", adding that they played "Really intense football" and that nobody in the country could touch them. That was a good move and definitely proved to be true. Until Mizzou beats someone, I refuse to accept them as a member of the SEC. They are currently Big 12 perpetrators, as far as I'm concerned. In over their heads, for now.

Florida vs. Texas A&M

I should go to Vegas, they tell me. I predicted that Florida was going to win a 4 point game, 27-23. I wasn't far off, with Florida winning 20-17. I love that sign on the right that an A&M fan held up during College Gameday, referring to their head coach Kevin Sumlin. I'm on board with A&M being in the SEC, but it remains to be seen how they will hold up to the schedule. They should've won this one, but I don't think they're gonna win more than a few SEC games this year. At least Florida has settled on a QB and I'm looking for the game with Tennessee this week.

WE PITCHED A SHUT OUT! STOP BITCHING! (Western Kentucky Recap)

TJ being TJ.

My prediction of 55-7 was clearly an overestimation on my part and that was evident at halftime when the score was only 21-0. I was one of the many who blindly ignored Saban's rant and didn't have respect for Western Kentucky. 

I also didn't expect our offensive line to save their pass blocking skills for another day. AJ was sacked 6 times. Most of what I saw in this game after the second quarter was obviously Bama just going through the motions. That's not an excuse. It's just the truth. Like alot of fans, I sometimes wish we would just throw for 400 yards in a game and score 50 something when we can.

But I have learned, more and more, to just trust in our coach and that's what I'm going to do here. The defense was very vanilla. They weren't really showing anything beyond basic coverages and still didn't allow a point. Forced several turnovers. Didn't really even attempt many blitzes. 

I guess there was no reason to show anything or try anything crazy in this one. So all in all, it was a good day. 

There was a huge bit of bad news though.



Jalston Fowler, our very Jerome Bettis-like bruiser of a RB/FB was lost for the season with a knee injury. He is pretty much the reason for the installation of the I-formation and if we are to continue running out of that set this year, it will take a combination of players to fill that role. Look for Kelly Johnson, for starters. Fowler is eligible for a medical redshirt like Hightower received in 09, so we should see him back next year. That'll be fun 

Hell, for his lack of his past explosiveness, I think Eddie Lacy could do a fine job in that role, blocking for TJ Yeldon on a regular basis and getting a few carries and receptions along the way. That's the direction I would like to see it go. And I think Kenyan Drake, the other stud true freshman will see more and more action as the year goes on. I'm really not sure of Dee Hart's role but perhaps he'll get more carries also. Thank God for the amazing depth that we have now, and in the future with the studs we continue to recruit. RB will always be a position of strength for us, but it's never NOT a bad thing when you lose one that is vital to several of your plays that you want to run.

Even though it sucks that we lost Fowler, and at the end of a game like this, I do take issue with the complaints from fans that he shouldn't have even been in the game at that point. Well, he is the damn 3rd string RB! We can't help that ALL our guys are great. Who are we supposed to have in there at that point? Perhaps we could've had Drake or Hart at that point, but still. It's not like it was Eddie or TJ being counted on that late. I do wish AJ hadn't had to play so late in the game. Losing HIM to a late game needless injury like this would be truly detrimental. So we are lucky.

Bo Scarbrough, Y'all!!!!!!!!!

OMG HE IS ONLY A JUNIOR IN HS!!!

Bo Scarbrough, who will be one of the top players in the entire country for the class of 2014, has announced tonight that he will attend The University of Alabama. I AM SO HAPPY TO HAVE THIS GUY.

Trooper Taylor, I'm watching you. If this guy suddenly transfers to a school down there, I'm coming for your ass.

But anyway. Bo is an unbelievable athlete as you pretty much can tell from the above pic. He has been a RB and is listed as such, but at 6'2" 215 lbs, and still growing, I could see him being a LB at Bama. But who knows. 

Did I mention that he is still only a Junior in High School. He won't be a freshman at Alabama until 2014 and he looks like that! GOOD LORD.

The rich get richer. Praise Lord Saban!

He was only a SOPHOMORE in this video!!

This is an interview from July that Bo did for 247Sports










Mark Ingram
Trent Richardson
Eddie Lacy
Jalston Fowler
Dee Hart
TJ Yeldon
Kenyan Drake
Altee Tenpenny
Tyren Jones 
And then Bo Scarbrough.

A L L of those guys are or were 4 or 5 star recruits, except Ingram and Fowler, who were 3 stars, and all of them except Ingram and Fowler were rated in the top 15 in the country at RB in their respective classes, Trent and Bo being the No. 1 guys in their classes.

It's never gonna stop as long as we have Saban.

Week Two Preview And Predictions

You can read my full in depth Alabama-Western Kentucky Preview Here

As far as the other games that matter to me:

1. Auburn vs. Mississippi State

In Starkville, MS. LOL

The Cam Newton Bowl. At least that's what I'm calling it. This has become a nasty series recently, with AU outbidding the Bulldogs in the sweepstakes for the greatest player of all time and rented mule extraordinaire, Cam Newton.

Since Dan Mullen has been MSU's coach, he has yet to beat an SEC West team not named Ole Miss. If he's ever going to do it, this is his chance. I won't be surprised if he does. I won't be shocked at all if he doesn't

In each of the last 2 seasons, including the one when Newton was Auburn's QB, MSU had a chance to win at the very end and shit the bed. Mullen just gets too overexcited about this game or something and then doesn't know what to do in crunch time. But obviously, he's a great coach. At least that's what they'll have you believe

MSU started this season against Jackson State, so there is absolutely no way to know how good they might or might not be. This will be when we see them for the first time really.

Kiehl Frazier was inconsistent in the Clemson game and then showed some immaturity by calling out the WR's publicly in the media. Of course he did. I don't expect him to play all that well, and other than Tre Mason, AU's running game is trash. Mason should make some good plays, but not as much as he did against Clemson

State has one of the best cornerbacks in the country in Jonathan Banks, and he will be a difference maker, picking off a pass in this game. 

Both offenses are iffy at the moment, but I think State has the edge at QB, at least right now, in Tyler Russell, who has a handful of decent wideouts to throw to. I think MSU's defense will stop Auburn just once or twice more than AU will stop them

Mullen finally gets it done

Mississippi State beats Auburn, 23-16

2. Florida vs. Texas A&M

There is alot on the line for both of these teams. Nobody wants to be the first SEC coach to lose to A&M, and A&M would love to show that they immediately belong in this league. Personally, until further notice, I'm rooting AGAINST the Aggies, as well as Mizzou, cause I don't consider them proper members until they earn it.

But at the moment, it appears that A&M, or at least their fans, are getting with the program. A billboard was placed in Gainesville, FL that read in part: "Howdy Gainesville. You've been annexed by Aggie Nation. Real Football. Real Tradition". That is a very SEC Fan thing of them to have happen, I must say. 

Will Muschamp had the follow awesome line: "You ever been to College Station? It'll be the only time you go". In response to that, Nancy Berry, the mayor of College Station, sent Muschamp a welcome basket that includes tickets to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, a bottle of wine from a local winery, some Aggies clothing, and a list of things to do there. I love this shit. Nothing better than this part of the country for football.

To hell with it, I'm totally on board with the Aggies being a part of the SEC. At least their acting the part.

As far as the actual game is concerned, Florida has decided upon Jeff Driskel as their starting QB. I think it's a good decision, but we should still see Jacoby Brissett when there is the opportunity. Florida's offense looked like trash last week against freaking BOWLING GREEN, but they should have a better handle on things with a more settled situation here.

The Aggies, on the other hand, are starting a freshman, Johnny Manziel in their first game against the greatest football conference in America. In their first game of the season, since their game against La Tech last week was postponed because of Hurricane Isaac. Despite Florida looking as bad as Auburn, at least they had a game to play like that and work out some problems. 

At the same time, Muschamp added that he told Driskel this is his team now and "I don't want you to be looking over your shoulder, but you need to play well".

So in other words, if you screw this up I will go all Steve Spurrier on you. That should work out.

For all the ineptness that we should see from the QB position, this game will feature two good running backs. Mike Gillislee for the Gators, and Christine Michael for the Aggies. I will not make fun of a dude for having a girl's name. I will not make fun of a dude for having a girl's name. I will not....

Ok, where were we?

These two backs should make some really nice plays and it should resemble an actual SEC game, despite including a team that has never played an SEC game. Both teams are decent on defense.

I think with Florida having the game last week to work some things out, it will ultimately give them the edge. It should be a good game, that comes down to the end.

Florida, 27
TAMU, 23

3. Georgia vs. Missouri

"I watched the game. I turned it off, too. It's like watching the Big Ten. It's old man football." - Mizzou DT Sheldon Richardson, on Georgia and their first game. He also went on to say that they play "So high intense football" at Mizzou, that they could play with anybody right now and that they were ready to beat Bama. Good one, Sheldon. I love the shot at the Big Ten there though. LOL.

UGA QB Aaron Murray responded with, "I don't know what that really means. Either way we have to play to win, it's a W at the end of the day. We could play powder puff football for all I care".

I swear I thought that said "Jock Itch" at first.

These new SEC teams are so cute right now with their bravado. While I have embraced Texas A&M fully, I am pulling 100% for Georgia to embarrass Mizzou and most specifically Richardson. He thinks they are ready to play Bama and could beat anyone right now. CLUELESS. It would be awesome to see them just get annihilated in this game.

And I think they will. At least defensively. But Georgia is reportedly going to be without 4 of it's defensive starters who are suspended. Of course Georgia has a couple of stars suspended. We go through this the first couple games of every season.

So I'm thinking this will be an entertaining, high scoring affair, much like the UGA-South Carolina game last year. That game was Isaiah Crowell's coming out party, though he pissed away his career in the end at Georgia.

This year's star freshman RB for the Bulldogs is Todd Gurley, who ran wild on Buffalo last week. But that was Buffalo, so we shall see how he fares this week and going forward. I suspect neither defense will be able to stop the passing game very much.

On a side note, Missouri's head coach Gary Pinkel got a DUI during the offseason, so he should fit in very well with the culture of UGA football and he and Richt should have some interesting conversations. 

I'm gonna say that Georgia eeks this one out, 41-37

Go Dawgs!

Yeah, this is pretty much it. Other than the Bama game, these are the only 3 games worth watching for me so this is all I'm gonna predict. There are several big games next week though, so I look forward to that

Alabama-Western Kentucky Preview And Prediction

This one should be easy to figure out. I'll go ahead and spare you the suspense. I'm picking Alabama to win this game. 

At least I hope they do. I mean the Hilltoppers are pretty tough. They held mighty Austin Peay to less than 200 yards total in the game last week and their defense is great at stopping the run. Ok enough comedy.

Seriously though, here's some info on WKU if you don't know much about them:

• They play in the Sun Belt and their head coach is Willie Taggart. 

• They opened the season this past Saturday by beating Austin Peay 49-10. 

• We've only played them once before, beating them 41-7 in 2008. Saban apparently loves to score 41 points in a game

• Last year was just their 3rd year in the Sun Belt and they had their very first winning season, going 7-5, but being left out of the bowl picture

• The only statistic that they finished in the top 50 nationally was Rushing Offense. They were 35th nationally, and led the Sun Belt. Obviously, this will be a problem for them against Bama if all they're good at is running the ball. Cause that won't be happening.

They do have almost everyone back on offense from last year's team, but like I said...we shouldn't be worried about that. They could borrow Marcus Lattimore for the game and still have trouble against this D, with the talent they have

For all the trouble we had kicking field goals last year, WKU would've gladly traded our problems for theirs. They attempted 20 FG's last year and only made 5. F I V E. Out of 20. Ridiculous. And dude was 0-2 last week.

WKU did, however, do one thing in the regular season last year that we did not do: They scored a TD against LSU. College Football is full blown retard sometimes

This is the kind of game that will be good for us between Michigan and Arkansas. Arkansas will be the real first test of the season. There were plenty of things that we did defensively in this last game that Arkansas has the passing ability to take advantage of. My thought, though, is that we play so many different looks on that side of the ball that our D will probably look vastly different against them than it did against Michigan. For example, when....

Wait.

WHY THE HELL AM I TALKING ABOUT ARKANSAS????

Back to the topic and team at hand.

This should help: 

Yeah. Seriously.

Not only that, but Western Kentucky PLAYERS and COACHES are actually talking trash.

"My dad hated Alabama. My mama hated Alabama. I hate Alabama" - WKU Defensive End, TJ Smith. His parents aren't going to be too fond of DJ Fluker and Cyrus Kouandjio this saturday

"We're going out there and we're gonna play football. We're going to go out there and we're going to win this ballgame" - WKU Head Coach Willie Taggart. To be fair, Taggart was an assistant coach for Stanford when they defeated USC in 2007 despite being 41 point underdogs.

I mean, I understand being confidant. I fully approve of and promote that. Anybody that goes out on a football field, no matter who they play for, and no matter who they are playing against, and EXPECTS to lose should be benched or fired. Of COURSE they think they can win. Of course they are going to TRY to. This is how they SHOULD think.

But when you are this big an underdog against this powerful an opponent, DO NOT go talking shit publicly about them! Why would you do that???

I have never seen a kitten walk up to a lion, spit at it, insult it's mama, say "I'm gonna kick your ass", and come out of that successfully. 

Really, why would you poke a stick at a beast that is obviously way bigger, stronger, faster, and tougher than you are? Of course you are going to give it everything you can. BUT SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND PROVE IT FIRST.

Then have all the fun in the world and put up a damn billboard about it the way La Monroe did in Louisiana when they beat us in 2007. Sigh

Anyway.

On to how I think the actual GAME will go:

AJ will start the game throwing the ball around, I think. Lacy, Yeldon, and Fowler will make several big runs and we will have something like a 35-0 lead at the half.

Then we will see a ton of the young guys, starting with backup QB Phillip Ely, who I hope to get to see throw the ball a few times at least.

There really isn't much more to go into with this game, as it's really just a warm up practice game for the next week, to get guys healthy, and to get the new guys some experience

I think we probably give up a cheap TD at the end in garbage time with nothing but 3rd stringers and walk ons on the field, but end up winning big still

55-7 Bama

NOW GET YOUR ASSES READY, YOU PIG BASTARDS!!!!!

Arkansas fans. "Nuff said.

Interesting And Entertaining Fan Comments Re: SEC and Bama

The following are fan comments taken from different places around the internet, whether they be ESPN articles or blogs/team sites:

Michigan's biggest tactical error on Sat night was not leaving JerryWorld ten minutes into the 1st quarter. - Michigan fan on mgoblog.com

Michigan's dunderheaded coaches decided on a strategy of not running away at top speed apologizing profusely - mgoblog

Suggested Michigan strategy vs Bama: GO LIMP. Jesse Williams may believe you are rotten and wander off in search of salmon. - mgoblog

Bama would have made ANY team look bad. If I were USC I'd lose a few games in upcoming weeks to avoid the embarrassment. - ESPN article

Playoffs should expand to 6-8 teams so Big10 has shot. It won't be fun to watch 4 #SEC teams battle it out yr after yr. - Wisconsin fan, ESPN

Cowboys fan on ESPN: SEC West looks a lot like the NFC East. Bama fan response: The SEC West can't be won with a 9 win record.

There are plenty of teams that could whip Alabama's behind...the only problem is they play on Sunday.  - ESPN

I pity USC if they do meet Alabama. Better hope some other sacrificial lamb has honor of being crushed under Bama's jackboot - Pac 12 fan, ESPN

Anyone else want to say the SEC is over-rated? Anyone? Bueller? - Oregon fan, ESPN

Alabama practice squad > Big10 All Star Team - New Mexico State fan, ESPN. Ok, it's HILARIOUS when New Mexico St fans are making jokes about you

If you haven't already started binge drinking you may have a brain tumor, so... yeah. Binge drink. - mgoblog, during the game


Credit to Living Crimson for these

Players Of The Week: TJ Yeldon, DeMarcus Milliner

True Freshman RB TJ Yeldon scoring his first of MANY touchdowns for Alabama

TJ Yeldon was named the SEC Freshman Of The Week for his performance against Michigan, in his first career game. His first game EVER in crimson and white, and he was our leading rusher, with 111 yards on 11 carries. Eddie Lacy started the game, but only got 9 carries and significantly less yardage than TJ.

I think everyone knows by now that TJ famously flipped his commitment from Auburn to Alabama at pretty much the very last minute, the night before the dead period started before Christmas. And he enrolled early at Bama in January. This meant that the night he announced his switch, not a single Auburn coach would be allowed to contact him in any way until he would've already enrolled at Bama. LOL. Good job on the part of the young Mr. Yeldon there.

(Who wants to bet that AU coaches tried to contact him anyway? But that doesn't matter)

TJ went on to star in the spring scrimmage and was the MVP of that game, rushing and receiving for a total of almost 200 yards against what is obviously one of the best defenses in the country.

In the Michigan game Saturday night, he was unleashed upon the world. He only carried the ball 11 times. That's half the amount of a usual workhorse RB, and he went over the century mark easily. His very first career carry went for 14 yards. Every single thing this guy has done since December has been awesome and everything he touches is turning to gold. I think he will win the next Heisman for Bama, I think he is already the best RB on our roster, immediately, even over returning veteran stud Eddie Lacy. I think it won't be long before he is considered one of the best players on the entire team and he should enter his sophomore season in 2013 as one of the top RB's in the country. He is such the real deal, it is ridiculous. I know it's one game, and maybe I'm getting carried away, but consider this little fact: In the entire history of Alabama Football, with all the great backs who have carried the ball in Tuscaloosa, only ONE has EVER rushed for over 100 yards in his first game as a freshman. That would be TJ.

This award will be the most minor of many he will receive in the future. Can't say enough about how happy and excited I am to have this kid as one of US, when he could've just as easily been an Auburn Tiger. God, that would've been awful. 

Junior CB Dee Milliner knocking a ball away from a Michigan WR

Dee Milliner was named the National Defensive Player Of The Week for his performance against Michigan, which included 5 tackles, an INT, and a handful of passes broken up. He was a beast Saturday night, and every bit as good as Dre Kirkpatrick ever was. Yeah, I know. It's the truth though. 

Coming into the season, he had received some recognition in some All-SEC lists, but not alot of people around the country really knew him and he wasn't expected by most outside of Alabama to be a big star this year. It was even said in fall camp that incoming JUCO transfer Deion Belue could be better than him.

Dee was on a mission Saturday night. He got constantly picked on, but never gave up a single thing and played as well as anyone could expect anyone to play with that much attention on him.

Dee will be the man in our secondary this year, I think, even on par with Robert Lester.

Week One (A Look Back)

This is where I re-visit my predictions I made last week and brag about what I was right on and own up to the stupid stuff I thought would happen. I have alot of bragging to do, but first I will admit to where I was wrong. 

Actually...I wasn't wrong about anything. That's right, my friends, I correctly predicted EVERY single winner AND I was almost SPOT ON with the scores. I've never been more accurate. Hopefully this starts a trend

1. South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt

My prediction was a South Carolina win 23-13. South Carolina won 17-13

2. Tennessee vs. NC State

My prediction was a Tennessee win 31-27. UT won 35-21

3. Auburn vs. Clemson

My prediction was a Clemson win 30-20. Clemson won 26-19

4. Boise St vs. Michigan St

I correctly picked Michigan St to win, though it was closer than I thought it would be

5. Notre Dame vs. Navy

I picked Notre Dame to win, and got it right, but I thought it would be a close game. Instead Notre Dame blew Navy out

6. Kentucky vs. Louisville

Are we seeing a pattern here. Of course, I picked Louisville to win easily, and that they did

HELL TO THE VICTIMS: Alabama-Michigan Recap (With Links)

Michigan's fight song is called Hail To The Victors. The title of this post is more appropriate a description for what happened in Dallas on Saturday night.

The Cowboys Classic certainly was billed as being a much better game than it turned out to be. It was pretty much over before it got good and started. As soon as AJ McCarron completed a 2 yard pass to Michael Williams, on a perfect fake, for the first TD of the game, it was easy to tell that Alabama was miles ahead of Michigan in talent and ability

It was 31-0 at halftime. 

To borrow something I saw earlier, AJ McCarron and friends wrote another chapter in a book called Fifty Shades Of Whoopass

Michigan is a good team. Perhaps a REALLY good team, and they will contend for the Big Ten title. They were ranked in the preseason top 10 for a reason. They won 11 games last year and returned one of the most exciting players in college football today, Denard Robinson.

Robinson rushed for over 1,700 yards last year and passed for over 2,000. He is the ONLY quarterback in history with such stats. And he will still rack up similar stats the rest of the way. But he only rushed for 27 yards against Bama and threw 3 INTs. It should've been 4 or 5, but there were a couple of dropped opportunities by Bama DBs. This will be the low point of his season

Our defense, which the national media incorrectly thinks is mostly new players, completely dominated, just as they did all of last year. Losing a handful of draft picks off that side of the ball did not appear, at least on this night, to have caused any drop off.

The thing that the media and fans from around the country don't realize is that of the 15-20 guys you saw on the field on defense tonight, only about 3 or 4 are really playing for the first time. Most of these guys rotated in and out last year with the guys we lost. There wasn't a drop off during games last year when these guys came in, and there doesn't appear to be one this year. Alabama will once again have one of the best defenses in all of college football, if not THE best

And Alabama is the best team, from top to bottom, in the entire country. Again. And I don't think there is much competition. Only LSU can match Bama in talent, and their new QB Mettenberger went out of their first game tonight with a mild concussion, though he is said to be fine

At the end of the day, this is still the SEC vs. the Big Ten and the results haven't changed since 2006. It's funny that this streak of SEC dominance over that conference began in 2006 with Florida whipping up on Ohio State 41-14 and continued tonight with Bama whipping Michigan by the exact same score.

It didn't matter that Michigan was without their starting RB, who was suspended. It wouldn't have mattered if Desmond Howard had been on that team. Alabama is the most dominant team in college football, all the way across the board, and one or two players would not have made a bit of difference for Michigan.

Nick Saban is a freaking terminator. Before the LSU game in 2008, he famously gave a locker room speech that included the words, "MAKE HIS ASS QUIT". Nick was referring to individual matchups for the players, but Nick has destroyed one team's season or another, or one coach or another every year since that one. 

Starting off 2008 with the stomping of Clemson, leading to a downward spiral for that team and the firing of their coach. Sylvester Croom, Phillip Fulmer, and Tommy Tuberville were also ALL fired after shitty seasons highlighted by beatdowns at the hands of Lord Saban.

Every time you turn around, it seems like we are putting an opponent's QB out of the game. Starting with Colt McCoy in the 09 BCS Championship game, then Florida's first AND second string guys last year, and Denard had to leave the game a couple times tonight. We just make your ass QUIT. That's the way it is now and it's not gonna change anytime soon

So hate on, Bama haters. It's gonna get worse for you.

Notes And Quotes

• TJ Yeldon is the first running back in Alabama football HISTORY to rush for more than 100 yards in his first game as a true freshman.

• 3 Michigan players were hurt in the game. That's just the way it is when you play Bama. Saban said when he came here that he wanted the identity of his team to be that of a team that nobody wants to play. When you see Alabama coming, you say, "Man I hate playing these guys". Saban has perfectly built a monster squad that lives up to that goal

• Amari Cooper's pinky was popped out of place during the game

• 7 true freshmen played their first games Saturday night: Yeldon, Reggie Ragland, Dillon Lee, Amari Cooper, Kenyan Drake, Geno Smith, and Landon Collins. Of these guys, of course Yeldon had the breakout performance, but Lee made his first career interception in the game so I'm sure that was a great moment for him.

• CJ Mosely had a 16 yard INT return for a TD. It is the 3rd pick-six of his career, tying Antonio Langham for the Alabama record. It was the 26th non-offensive TD of the Saban era.

• There were 4 defensive players that left the game with injuries. Robert Lester with a shoulder stinger. Jesse Williams with a mild concussion. Reggie Ragland with a sprained ankle. And Trey DePriest with a sprained ankle. They will all be fine.

"Thank you to all the fans and your support. And to Floyd Mayweather, you wish you had $3 million back" - AJ, on Twitter, referring to the fact that the boxer placed a $3 million bet on Michigan, and obviously lost badly

"We didn't play Michigan Football today. You guys could see that we didn't come to play ball today" - Denard Robinson. Well, no shit Denard. Maybe there's a reason for that. Try as hard as you can, and maybe you just can't do much against a group of guys that are just better than you. I like to make excuses too sometimes, Heisman candidate.

Links

Alabama Has Another Championship Team In The Making - Kevin Scarbinsky
Game Report Card - al.com
Dee Milliner Passes The Test Again And Again - al.com
Was McCarron Better QB In The Game - Bleacher Report
TJ Yeldon Is A Budding Superstar - Bleacher Report
Bama Proves SEC Dominance Worth The Hype - TideFans
Different Realities For Alabama And Michigan - Cecil Hurt
I-Formation Different But Effective - Chase Goodbread
Tide Defense Denies Robinson - Tommy Deas
Offensive Line Wears Michigan Down - Tommy Deas
Alabama Dominates - ESPN
Bama Plays With A Purpose - ESPN
Bama's New Defense Much Like Old - CBS Sports
Defense Answers The Call - Alex Scarborough
A Michigan Perspective - Michigan Daily
Cold Splash Of Reality - The Detroit News
Bama Beats And Bashes Poor Michigan - Mark Edwards