BCS Trophy Is At Home In T-town

The BCS Trophy when it stopped in Roanoke, Va in September.

The game started off ugly. Lots of mistakes by Bama early in the game. On the opening possession, 4th and 23 deep in their own territory, Bama fakes the punt, P.J. Fitzgerald passes and it gets intercepted. Luckily the Tide’s D kept Texas to a field goal. But on the following kickoff, fumble… Texas has it again deep in Bama territory. And once again, the Tide’s strong red zone defense held them to just a field goal.

At least 5 sacks taken by Greg McElroy. He put up only 58 yards. The offensive line looked pitiful in the first quarter, the way they were predicted to be at the beginning of the season with so many newcomers on board.

The rushing game of Alabama was good as usual. Mark Ingram did his job. 116 yards rushing with 2 touchdowns. Trent Richardson had a wonderful game, with 109 yards and 2 touchdowns as well, with one of them a 49 yard dash to the end zone.

The 31-27 win was made easy by Texas quarterback Colt McCoy leaving the game during their first possession with an injured shoulder. Backup Garrett Gilbert steps in for the rest of the game. Definitely not McCoy. He throws 4 interceptions and loses the ball during a sack.

One of those interceptions was returned by Marcell Dareus for a 28 yard TD. During a shuttle pass, the receiver juggles and Dareus says, “Hey, this is how to hold on to it!” He takes it the other way for the 6 points.

Nick Saban didn’t seem pleased with the Gatorade dump. He said he got hit hard by the bucket, almost causing a shoulder injury to him. And he prefers water over sticky Gatorade. Water, the life blood of the world.

It was a great game. I didn’t get to see much of it as it was going on due to work, only watching it from the audio booth during newscasts, peeping around the producer to see the tiny 7 inch monitor it was on.

The team and the trophy arrived in Tuscaloosa Friday night. Saturday, the team is partying it up, and the trophy is making stops at a Walmart in Tuscaloosa and just north of Birmingham for fans to have photo opportunities with.

A statue of Nick Saban is in the works to join those of Wade, Thomas, Bryant and Stallings at Bryant-Denny Stadium’s Walk of Champions plaza, coaches that have coached the Tide to the National Championship.

Fun Facts

Last time Greg McElroy lost a game as a starter was in 2001 at Carroll Middle School.

Texas has never lost against Alabama, although they did tie 3-3 in the 1960 Bluebonnet Bowl.

The SEC has been in the last three BCS Championship games, winning it also.

The 2nd ranked team has won the title 6 out of the last 7 title games.

One of the reasons an elephant is the Alabama mascot comes from the 1930 Rose Bowl. The company that carried the team’s luggage had an elephant on its logo and the media associated them with that logo.

Happy New Year

After taking a three week hiatus for the holidays, the Crimson Express is back in business.

A few days remain until the BCS Championship is delivered to either Alabama or Texas. Both Nick Saban and Mack Brown are hungry for another BCS title. Saban last won it in 2004 when he coached LSU, and Brown and the Longhorns had it last in 2006. In that game, Texas played in the Rose Bowl, defeating USC by 3 points. Thursday, they will be back in the same stadium, but not as the Rose Bowl Game, but the BCS National Championship Game.

This brings me to look at the Rose Bowl games. The Rose Bowl has always favored a PAC10 and Big Ten match-up in modern times. When the Bowl Championship Series began in 1998 and there was no BCS National Championship Game, there were two Rose Bowls during that period that didn’t have a PAC10-Big10 match-up. Miami-Nebraska in 2002, and Texas-USC in 2006.

The team outside of those conferences that have made the most appearances in the Rose Bowl is Alabama with 6. Texas has made 2 appearances.

Who are the players in this game? Alabama has star power in many places. They have Mark Ingram, the Heisman winner who can break tackles. They have Javier Arenas, who can rack up good yardage on punt returns. They have Terrence Cody, famed for his two blocked field goals against Tennessee. Texas has Colt McCoy. McCoy is a good quarterback, even better than Tim Tebow in my opinion.

Both Bama and Texas are pretty damn close in each of the following categories, but in my opinion, here are the winners of each category…
Rushing- Alabama.
Passing- Texas
Special Teams- Alabama
Rush Defense- Texas
Pass Defense- Alabama
Turnovers- Alabama
Penalties- Alabama

And the winner is Alabama.

Roll Tide!

History Was Made

Alabama, a team that has been so prosperous for many decades in football, has never had a Heisman Trophy winner. But Saturday night, history was made.

Mark Ingram was in tears when he accepted the coveted prize. Nick Saban looked a little teary eyed too. Even Kirk Herbstreit looked teary eyed when he was showing the regional stats and how Ingram dominated the votes in regions that didn’t have a candidate’s school. Tebow may have been crying as well, crying that he couldn’t win his 2nd trophy.

Ingram edged out Toby Gerhart, Stanford Running Back by 28 votes. Huge congratulations to Mark Ingram for a superb season!

Heisman Watch

The ballots have been cast for the Heisman winner and Mark Ingram is one of the finalists.

Never before has an Alabama player won this prestigious award, but Saturday, there is a decent chance history will be made. According to ESPN, Sports Illustrated and many other sport sites after last weekend, the race tightened up. The front runners seem to be Toby Gerhart of Stanford, Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska, and Ingram.

Ingram was a runaway a few weeks ago, but the shutout Auburn put on him a couple weeks ago made him fall in the ranks. Last week he proved himself once again, and with Texas’ Colt McCoy having a miserable game against Nebraska, things tightened up at the top.

The last Bama player to get the invite to Heisman ceremony was Quarterback Jay Barker in 1994.

On To Pasadena!

Wow, after having a miserable game against Auburn last week, Alabama proved they are the #1 team in the country after kicking Florida’s buttocks 32-13.

Against the nation’s #1 defense, the Crimson Tide delivered 490 total yards, 239 in the air and 251 on the ground. Greg McElroy showed the nation he is just as good as Tim Tebow, but even better. He did some “Tebowesque” moves, as one CBS commentator called it, to get first downs, including an outstanding run in the 4th, dancing and skipping along the sideline to keep himself inbounds for the first down. Heisman candidate Mark Ingram showed that the Gator rush defense was not a problem as he ran for 113 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The defense held Florida to only 88 yards rushing. Tebow, struggled to run, which he normally does well at, only putting up 63 yards. He managed only 1 touchdown pass, which was Florida’s only touchdown, and was picked off in the end zone by Javier Arenas, which sealed the deal during a 4th quarter comeback drive.

Florida did not lead any in this game. The Tide chose to receive at the start and drove down the field to put them on the board with a Leigh Tiffin field goal. On the next possession, Bama drove 76 yards for an Ingram touchdown. The point after failed, and Bama was up by 9-0. The second half was all Crimson Tide. Florida was shutdown. First time they had been shut out in the second half since who knows when.

Lots of emotion in this game. Tebow shouting at and pumping up the defense, urging them to stop Bama in the second half. That emotion turned to tears at the end with him on the sideline crying, being held by teammates with a minute to go, with the entire nation watching this “superman” break down and the fans at the Georgia Dome watching on the hundreds of HD monitors scattered about the facility. While at the same time, Ingram and Julio Jones on the opposite sideline doing the Gator Chomp gesture. The video has become viral now. And Saban, who keeps cool and doesn’t show much emotion of happiness, chest bumping with Ingram.

Next stop for the Crimson Tide, Pasadena to take on Texas for the BCS Championship, where they will likely be heavily favored after Texas barely escaped a loss to Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game with a last second field goal.

Roll Tide!

The Semifinal Round

In a few hours, Alabama and Florida will battle it out for the trip to Pasadena, in what could be considered the semifinal game of the BCS.

Who will win? It is tough to say, as both teams have qualities that outrank the other. Who will the winner play in Pasadena? It’s a good bet it will be Texas, as they play Nebraska today in the Big 12 Championship. Nebraska, being so far down in the polls, will not have a shot for Pasadena even if they win.

I can say if Texas loses, the BCS Championship will be an SEC team and a team from the great state of Texas, either Texas or TCU. And I’m pulling for the SEC team to be the Crimson Tide.

My ulcer is flaring up already.

SEC Championship Ahead

Several times this season, the Crimson Tide has not looked like a championship team. The stereotypical teams that win championships are ones that score touchdowns when they get the opportunity. Alabama has not done that. Instead, they find other ways to win by kicking field goals, blocking them and using their stingy defense on the final drives.

But shouldn’t those be characteristics of championship teams? A team that wins outside the box?

Bama wll have to employ some of those tricks on Saturday. Florida has been outstanding this season. They make pass plays. They make rush plays. They make defensive plays. They have Tim Tebow, who not only is the quarterback, but the leading rusher on the team.

Alabama and Florida are great rushing teams. The Tide has Heisman candidate Mark Ingram, with 1,429 yards and 12 TDs on the ground. The Gators have Tebow, another Heisman candidate with 796 yards, but 13 TDs on the ground.

Rush defense, Alabama ranks near the top with 78.8 yard per game and Florida with 89.9. Very good rush defenses for both.

Passing, Florida definitely has the advantage. Tebow is a more accurate, confident and experienced passer than Greg McElroy, although he isn’t passing as much this season as he was the past two. Last week against Auburn, McElroy showed he hang with the big dogs in passing.

Pass defense, Alabama is giving up 146.7 yard per game while Florida gives up 143.3. Pretty damn close. Alabama is riding a 9 game streak with an interception. Florida on the other hand has only 1 game with not interception, and that was against Arkansas. In that game they gave up 224 yards passing. Alabama gave up 191 yards passing and forced 1 interception against the same team.

To win the game, Mark Ingram needs 100+ yards. They struggled against Auburn when they kept him to 30 yards. Florida’s D will attempt the same thing. The offensive line must open holes for Ingram to initially break through, and then he can manage on his on.

The defense must contain Tebow. Tebow is the entire Florida offense. He passes. He runs. He is trying to fulfill that promise to have an undefeated season that came after their last loss near the beginning of the 2008 season to Ole Miss. Pressure him, intercept him, sack him.

The defense must also make them punt. Put them in 3rd and long and pressure Tebow. Also, as we saw in the beginning of the Auburn game, watch out for the trick plays. Tebow does not want to break a promise and will do any kind of gay trickery to win.

It will be a close one. Florida is favored by 5 points.

The Beast

After doing some in-depth research on Florida quarterback, Tim Tebow, I came to a startling conclusion about him. I noticed how well he is liked by people, charming, a leader, thinks he is the greatest thing on earth, and makes promises. He shouldn’t be playing football. He should be a politician! Are those the traits Christians believe will be those of the Antichrist?

So I started crunching numbers to “Timothy Richard Tebow”. If ‘A’=1 and ‘Z’=26, then the letters of each name, when added down to a single digit come to be 2, 6, 2. Wait, that’s not 666. Then I used Tim instead of Timothy. Bingo! Tim equals 6. But Tebow was 2. But check out his jersey, TEBOW is #15. So there you go.

I looked into the characteristics of the Antichrist and found many similarities to him and Tebow.

He is powerful and destroys mightily. Tebow is a great quarterback. But not only can he throw TD passes, but he can run for TDs as well, therefore destroying the opponent.

People will worship him. Almost everyone in Florida, most of the U.S. and the world thinks he’s the greatest thing alive. Just watch a Florida game and you’ll see.

He survives deadly injuries. Remember the Kentucky game? After laying motionless for a minute, Tebow came back from the dead and played in the next game.

He will subdue three kings. Tough one, but later investigating, I came up with the three kings he subdued were Bowden, Saban and Stoops, the coaches of the last three opponents Florida played last year. Each of them have coached a National Championship, which to me, makes them kings.

He will have no regard for the desire of women. Tebow has admitted he’s a virgin.

He will claim to be Jesus. An excerpt last year from an article in a Christian magazine had this line …

Tebow says. “For me, there are people watching, so I take the opportunity to … speak because I may be the only Jesus that they see.

He was also born from a miraculous birth. In the Philippines, his mother had amoebic dysentery that complicated the pregnancy and was given the option to abort to save herself. Expecting Little Timmy to be miscarried or stillborn, he popped out healthy.

Doesn’t that sound like the Antichrist? Oh God, save Alabama!

Gator’s Dunlap Arrested

I hardly talk and analyze Alabama’s opponents, but this week, with it being the biggest game of the season pending the outcome, I will be looking deep into Florida’s mind to see what makes them tick.

Early Tuesday, Florida Defensive End, Carlos Dunlap was found passed out drunk in the driver’s seat of his vehicle at a traffic light in Gainesville. Arrested and charged with DUI and underage drinking, he was released back to the swamp.

Dunlap is one of the Gator Defense’s top players, tied for the most sacks this season and the MVP of the BCS Championship game earlier this year. This will be a huge hurt for the Florida D if the staff chooses to suspend him.

What would cause someone in his position to do such a thing? Could it be the pressure and anxiety of not being able to stop Alabama this weekend? Alabama will be the biggest test the Gators have seen all year.