Alabama-Michigan Preview And Predictions!

The Cowboys Classic. In Jerry World. In Dallas. This game has everything you would want in big time college football to start the 2012 season

Kevin Norwood has had a picture of Cowboys Stadium on his phone for the past several months that he says he looks at every day. Norwood's mind and heart will also be in two places this week, as his family on the Mississippi coast is dealing with the hurricane

Chance Warmack is a Detroit native, even though he moved to Atlanta as a kid. He has plenty of family up there that are Michigan fans. Desmond Howard is one of his all time favorite athletes

Dee Hart was originally committed to Michigan before switching to Alabama. If he were on the other sideline, he would probably be their starter Saturday. Hopefully he will get a few big carries in this game. I'd love to see him score a TD against the team he was originally planning on playing for

The last time Alabama and Michigan played each other, it was in the 2000 Orange Bowl, following the 1999 season. Tom Brady was Michigan's QB in that game. Shaun Alexander had a hell of a game, but Brady prevailed

It has been over 12 years since these teams have played. And starting the season against each other, in the first game, in the regular season, is extremely weird. And special

This is one of those games, y'all. Two of the top 5 greatest programs of all time facing each other to open up seasons in which they both have high hopes. Michigan is coming off an 11 win first season for Head Coach Brady Hoke, after suffering through 3 years of sorry ass Rich Rodriguez.

We still owe Rich's wife Rita for hating Tuscaloosa and making him turn down the Alabama job in December of 06 before the modern day version of the Bear got on that plane with Coach Moore

Michigan's starting running back might or might not be their returning star Fitz Touissaint. He was listed as the starter atop the depth chart released Monday, which led everyone to assume that meant he would be playing Saturday, despite being suspended recently for getting a DUI. But Michigan says he is still not cleared to play and that decision will come later, though Hoke said he has a pretty good idea what he's gonna go. I believe the guy will play. Hoke knows how big this game would be if they could win it

Their best defensive lineman, Frank Clark, is also up in the same air whether or not he will play, after being suspended for an arrest following a home invasion a few months ago

Who do these guys think they play for, Auburn or something?

I think Clark will play too. Again, same reason. This game is HUGE

Michigan is the highest ranked team in the Big 10 entering the season, but they are not even the favorites to win their conference. That would be Wisconsin. I don't even think they are second best to Wisconsin. I think they are going to have stiff competition from Nebraska and Ohio State as well. Michigan is overrated because they won 11 games with a first year coach, who does have them headed in the right direction, and because they have one of the most fun players to watch in the country in Denard Robinson

But we are the SEC. I mean, right now we, Alabama, WE are the SEC!

When you look at the last few years of other conferences' top teams going against the SEC, unsuccessfully, it all comes down to the line of scrimmage. And that's what it comes down to in this game. Very simply

There are many other areas than that which I could analyze and which I have in my extensive team previews of both Alabama and Michigan in other posts, but I will settle the entire debate with just this one point

Alabama returns 4 starters on the offensive line, 3 of which could be first round draft picks. The new starter is left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio, who very well could end up being better than all the others. Michigan returns ZERO starters on the defensive line

Alabama returns an absolute stud in the middle of the defensive line in 600 lb bench pressing Aussie Jesse Williams, and three above average former 4 star prospects, in Quinton Dial, Ed Stinson, and Jeoffrey Pagan rotating in and out at one End position with Damion Square holding down the other side of Jesse. Michigan only returns one starter on the offensive line and will probably be starting at least one true freshman

Alabama will completely and totally DOMINATE in every shape, form, and fashion at the point of attack. Michigan has a good offense for the Big Ten. A really good offense. But that shit won't fly against the best of the best of the best conference in the USA. AJ McCarron will have as much time as he needs to find any one of our many talented wideouts, and the running game should be very impressive from the start

Denard Robinson has enough talent and spark by himself, and Alabama does have just enough youth on defense, that I could see a busted play or two leading to Shoelace breaking a big run or two that could lead to a TD or two for the Wolverines. But Robinson won't do much in the passing game, other than float a pass or two that Robert Lester and Co. will be waiting to intercept and he won't run enough to catch up with Alabama's ability to do pretty much whatever they want in this game. If you will remember, Alabama, with the young defense of 2010, held the greatest player of all damn time, Cam Newton, to just 1.8 yards per carry in the Iron Bowl that year. He didn't beat us on the ground. He did it with his arm. Like Robinson will have to do. Like he hasn't shown he can

We all saw the woodshed that Bama took Michigan St to a couple years ago. Michigan St has beaten Michigan the last 4 years in a row, including a 28-14 beating last year when they shut Robinson down. That defense ain't got SHIT on the one Robinson is about to face. 28-14 is about what I would be willing to call for this game, but I think it could be damn near as bad as the Capital One Bowl was for the Spartans if Michigan lets it get away from them too quickly.

I know I am gumpin' at an all time level right now, I'm drinking the kool aid in unhealthy amounts here, but I truly believe what I am about to say.

As crazy as it might sound to some from around the country, and to some of the haters out there, I see this game being something like 17-7 or 13-10 at the half. But I think Bama will pull away in dominant fashion in the second half.

Tom Brady got the best of the Tide in the last meeting between us. This time, another Brady, last name Hoke, will not be on the prevailing side of the field.

It has been 1,335 days since Alabama lost to a Non-SEC opponent. And it ain't about to happen Saturday.

41-17 Bama. Roll Damn Tide

Alabama Depth Chart: DEFENSIVE LINE

2012 Depth Chart

Defensive End

1. Damion Square, Sr.

• Square came to Alabama in the class of 2008 from Houston, Tx as a 4 star prospect who could've gone most anywhere in the country. He chose Bama over Texas A&M and has been a starter the last couple seasons. He's a very quotable guy and is proving to be one of our leaders this year. His twitter handle is @squareboy92 and he is a good one to follow

          A few nuggets:

"Whenever I get my hands on the QB, I try to make it as ugly as possible"

"We don't want you to ever see the endzone. By any means necessary. That's our mindset"

1. Ed Stinson, Jr.

• Stinson was part of the class of 2009 class. Out of Miami, FL, he was only a 3 star prospect, and was originally committed to Florida St before switching to Alabama. He has been a solid backup for the last couple seasons and now gets his turn to shine on the other side from Square

2. Jeoffrey Pagan, So.

• Pagan was a huge recruit in the class of 2011. He is from Ashville, NC, and was expected to end up at Clemson, but spurned them at the end of the process and chose the Tide. He saw the field as a true freshman last year, and has been singled out many times by Square as a young guy who is expected to be the next big star after the older guys move on. I expect Pagan to have a year, this year, much like Marcel Dareus in 2009. He and Stinson will rotate in and out and I expect Pagan to be more the big play impact guy that will go into the 2013 season as one of the best in the SEC

2. Quinton Dial, Sr.

• While Dial is listed on the depth chart that Alabama released today behind Square on that side, I think he is more likely to rotate in with the previous 3 guys more often, and Square is most likely to stay on the field the most of any of these 4 guys. Dial originally signed with Alabama in 2009 out of Clay-Chalkville High School, but failed to qualify and had to go JUCO. He came back to Alabama last year and looks to be an above average player. I wish he had a couple more years, cause he could be a star, but alas, this will be his one big shot to play as much as possible. I think he's a draftable prospect, but he certainly could've done with having another year than he does have

Nose Tackle

1. Jesse Williams, Sr.

• The Monster. That's even his handle on Twitter. @ThaMonstar. He's hard to miss with about 4,343 tattoos and a mohawk. Jesse is from Brisbane, Australia, and didn't even play American football until he was late in his high school years. He went to a junior college in Arizona and ended up at Alabama last year as a relative unknown. Well he is no longer an unknown. A likely All American this season, he is now legendary for the recent video of him benching 600 lbs. He says he can do more than that. Barrett Jones said the other day that he will be a gamechanger this year and one of the best in the country. 

2. Brandon Ivory, So.

• Ivory was a lightly recruited prospect from the cesspool of Memphis in 2010. But he was freaking huge, at 6-3, 330, and Saban saw him as the future clog in the middle. He has been the understudy of Williams all fall and will most likely replace him next season

Week One Preview And Predictions

Each week throughout the season, I will pick a few games to preview and then predict who I think will win. I won't always be picking what the national media might call the BIG games. I will be picking the games that are more important to me and the ones I would be more interested in.

After the weekend, I will do a look back on the games I predicted and admit to any dumbass predictions I made and/or brag about how right I was with certain teams and games

Week one gets started on Thursday night with a couple of games on TV. Texas A&M plays La Tech and Washington State plays BYU. I could care less about either of those games, though I'd pick A&M and BYU as the winners


1. South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt  I will most certainly be DVR'ing this one to watch when I get home from work that night.

SC is gonna be the favored team, probably by about 10 points even though the game is at Vandy. Last year, SC won by 18 at home, but that was before Jordan Rodgers became Vandy's starting QB. Stephen Garcia threw 4 INT's in that game. There is no Stephen Garcia, though Conner Shaw is an upgrade in my opinion, and Rodgers, who is the younger brother of Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, is firmly set as Vandy's QB. Vandy plays better at home, and things are on the uptick in Nashville. I really respect James Franklin and the way he is running things, making sure everyone knows that Vandy ain't afraid of anyone and they can beat anyone. That's ignorant, of course, but it makes for a better team than they could be and he's a good coach. I met him at SEC Media Days last year and told him I respected the way he was coaching from what I had heard about him so far and asked him how many games he thought Vandy would win that year. His response: "Well, every one of them of course". Love it. And would LOVE for Vandy to get the big W and make Steve Spurrier thoroughly abuse his visor. Would be hilarious

All that said, I'm still gonna go with South Carolina to win the game. I think Jadeveon Clowney will wreak absolute havoc on Rodgers and destroy any offensive plans they have in mind. South Carolina always manages to play like garbage when they shouldn't so it won't be a blowout

I'll take South Carolina to nail the spread and win this game, 23-13

2. Tennessee vs. NC State on Friday night could be alot of fun. I'd LOVE to see the Vols and their jackass QB Tyler Bray start the season off with a loss to a freaking ACC team.

NC State counters with Mike Glennon, who is returning for his final season at NC State. Glennon was a 5 star prospect out of high school who threw for over 3,000 yards last season and 31 TD's. It's too bad it was at NC State cause I didn't even know those stats until I just looked them up

Glennon could definitely cause problems for UT's secondary, considering he is 6-6 232 and with NFL first round talent.  Bray has the potential to be a star, but I don't think he has it between the ears. So I give the QB advantage to the Wolfpack.

Both teams have many holes on both sides of the ball that can be exploited by each and it's really not even worth breaking down each spot. I think either team could win this game, I think it could be an exciting game that goes back and forth and will come down to the last couple of minutes. Those types of games haven't been good to Derek Dooley thus far in his career

But I think Tennessee starts the season out on the right foot with a win, 31-27

3. Auburn vs. Clemson

This game kicks off an hour before the Bama game, so at least we will all get to watch the first hour of this game, before turning over to the Bama game. It's stupid to have these games at the same time, cause everyone knows as Alabama and Auburn fans, we like to watch each other's games, and especially big ones like these. Oh well.

Last year, Auburn jumped out to a 14-0 lead, and were up 21-7. I was smelling blowout at that point and was really shocked at how well Auburn was playing considering they had almost lost to Mississippi St and Utah St in the previous weeks and had looked horrible at this point. But Clemson came back and ended up making it a blowout in the other direction, thanks mostly to freshman sensation WR Sammy Watkins, who had 10 receptions for 150 something yards I think

Clemson returns a QB in Tahj Boyd that can give a young, learning AU defense fits. Boyd threw for 3,800 yards last season and 33 TD's. The concern is that Clemson is supposedly going to be without the player who DOMINATED Auburn last year, Sammy Watkins. My personal opinion is that Dabo Swinney, who is a former Bama player and still loves Bama, will find a way to allow Watkins to play. It will get said that Watkins has done the necessary things to get back on the team blah blah blah and he will play. Just my opinion. Though it is looking at this point that Dabo is sticking to the suspension and they will indeed be without Watkins.

The funny thing is, Auburn fans are laughing and bragging that they don't have to worry about Watkins and they are overlooking the fact that he isn't the only star wideout on that team. DeAndre Hopkins had 70 catches for almost 1,000 yards last season and Martavis Bryant is another big play WR that Clemson will use to make up for the missing Watkins.

The loss of Watkins though is, in my opinion, equaled out at least by Auburn's own loss. Reese Dismukes, their returning starter at Center was arrest Friday night for public intoxication and has been suspended, as it wasn't the first time he has shown poor judgment and immaturity. Dismukes is an All America candidate, and EASILY Auburn's best lineman and being without him, especially on short notice like this, with a new QB having to take snaps from a brand new guy....well, we all saw in the 2005 Iron Bowl what can happen when your star center goes out of the game and you have to shuffle the line around, as AU might do in this case. Brodie Croyle had nowhere to run, and even though Frazier is an athletic guy, I think there will be some mis-snaps and general screw ups between him and this line, that is also probably gonna be starting 2 freshmen at the tackle positions. While Watkins is a huge loss in playmaking ability for Clemson, I think they have other guys that can step in and replace that production. AU will have far more trouble replacing Dismukes on short notice and the lack of continuity will cost them dearly. I don't look for the passing game to have much spark in this game, and they don't have a bruising tough running back like Michael Dyer on the roster

Clemson also returns ALL-ACC RB Andre Ellington, who ran for almost 1,200 yards last season. Auburn's defense should be improved over last season, but I still have a hard time seeing them holding Clemson under 30 points in this game

For all the masturbating that AU fans are doing over their new defensive coordinator Bryan Van Gorder and laughing about Clemson giving up 70 points to WVU in the bowl game, they aren't thinking about the fact that Clemson has a new badass DC as well, Brent Venables from Oklahoma who they wanted before BVG came to town. Clemson returns 6 starters on D and they will also be improved. I don't see AU's offense with a new QB, Kiehl Frazier, who we are not even sure can complete a pass yet, and without their stud RB Mike Dyer who totally destroyed a future NFL career by being an idiot, being able to score more than 20 in this game. If Auburn wins, I will be surprised. And I am not saying any of this as a Bama fan. As you can see, I am honestly analyzing things from a personnel standpoint. I also think Swinney is a better coach than Chizik, who has shown so far that he is nothing more than an 8-5 coach without Supernova Newton.

One advantage I do see for AU is their defensive line vs Clemson's o line. Clemson is only returning 2 starters, though one is ALL-ACC, and Corey Lemonier is one of the top players in the country at DE. It's good that Boyd is athletic because he will have to run from Lemonier on a regular basis, but the rest of AU's d line is plenty talented too. The rest of AU's defense may be young and lacking in talent, outside of Chris Davis and Daren Bates, but the d line is probably only behind Alabama and LSU in the SEC so that will be Clemson's challenge.

I'm gonna go straight with the points I stated the teams could score above and say that Clemson wins, 30-20

These are really the only games of much significance in the first week this season, other than the Alabama-Michigan game in Dallas, which is the biggest by far

You can read my full Alabama-Michigan preview in my separate post on that one game.

For the sake of predicting enough games for the record, I will quickly predict a couple of winners of other games

4. Boise St vs. Michigan St: Michigan State. Kellen Moore FINALLY ain't walking through that door

5. Notre Dame vs. Navy: Notre Dame. Even though you can't trust them and they've lost to Navy recently

6. Kentucky vs. Louisville.  Louisville. Easily

The Alabama-Michigan game will be previewed in a separate post of it's own in the next couple days