Tide Tidbits – October 22, 2009

Lance Thompson makes first trip back to Bama
Lance Thompson was up late Monday night, watching video of the University of Alabama’s offense and hard at work in coaches meetings, but it all looks familiar. The touch that Greg McElroy has on the deep pass? He saw it in person on the Thomas-Drew practice fields long before having to break it down Monday night by remote control. William Vlachos’ first-step quickness at center? He’s seen it before. The Tennessee assistant coach makes his return to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday after leaving the Crimson Tide for one of its primary rivals during the offseason. And some of the very things that will keep Thompson up late this week have come as no surprise. That’s because when a UT-owned aircraft lifted Thompson out of Tuscaloosa for good on Jan. 15, Thompson already had answers to some of the preseason questions that surrounded the Crimson Tide offense.

Tennessee quarterback’s highs, lows
Consider it the curious case of Jonathan Crompton. From public enemy No. 1 to SEC offensive player of the week, Tennessee’s starting quarterback experienced yet another swing in the battle for approval from the Volunteer faithful two weeks ago against Georgia. From heralded recruit to vilified starter, the dance doesn’t seem to end for Crompton and his following. His 20-for-27, 310-yard, 4-touchdown outing in a surprisingly easy 45-19 win over Georgia Oct. 10 led to his selection as SEC offensive player of the week. Now, Crompton has a shot to win back the rest of the skeptics when Tennessee (3-3, 1-2 SEC) travels to No. 1 Alabama (7-0, 4-0 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Failure would only bring back the boo-birds who showered Crompton with disapproval several times in Neyland Stadium.

SEC suspends officiating crew
The Southeastern Conference officiating crew that worked last Saturday’s Arkansas-Florida game has been suspended and will not be allowed to work together as a crew again until Nov. 14, SEC commissioner Mike Slive announced Wednesday night. “A series of calls that have occurred during the last several weeks have not been to the standard that we expect from our officiating crews,” Slive said in a statement. “I believe our officiating program is the best in the country, however, there are times these actions must be taken. While only a few calls have been identified, the entire crew shoulders responsibility for each play. I have taken this action because there must be accountability in our officiating. Our institutions expect the highest level of officiating in all of our sports, and it is the duty of the conference office to uphold that expectation.”

SEC’s usually unquestioned overall strength under debate
The Southeastern Conference, whose teams have won the past three national championships, appears ready to steamroll toward a spot in the BCS title game again with Florida and Alabama occupying the top two spots in the polls. But beyond the Gators and Tide, could this be shaping up as a down year for the league? LSU is the only other SEC team ranked in the top 20, with South Carolina checking in at No. 23 in the AP poll after last week’s loss to Alabama. Preseason darling Ole Miss and perennial front-runner Georgia have fizzled, and Auburn has come back to earth with two straight losses after a 5-0 start, leaving the middle of the conference pecking order a jumbled mess. “After LSU, what have you got?” asked ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel. “You’ve got teams that are good some weeks and not others. In that regard, it makes the SEC much like everybody else.”

Saban says marking spot for Tiffin ‘won’t happen again’
University of Alabama coach Nick Saban said he was unaware that holder P.J. Fitzgerald was using an object to mark the spot for kicker Leigh Tiffin’s field goals and extra points, and added that it won’t happen again going forward. “I was not aware of this. I have become aware of it since it was brought to our attention,” Saban said on his weekly teleconference. “We certainly don’t want our players to do anything that’s illegal. It is a 5-yard penalty if you do anything to enhance the spot. We’ve done some research on it and over half the teams in the league do something, whether they put a piece of grass there or a piece of mud or whatever it is so the kicker knows where the ball is going to be spotted. We even saw verification where last year South Carolina’s kicker did it, so this is not something that is really unusual for people to do. It is something that shouldn’t be done because it’s against the rules. We’re actually happy that it was brought to our attention because I wasn’t aware of it, and it’s something that we will not do because it’s certainly not worth a 5-yard penalty.”

Roll Tide!

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