Tide Tidbits – December 27, 2009

Can Florida find a coach to measure up to Meyer and stand up to Saban?
Not that he needed it, but Nick Saban, the man who has everything, just got another Christmas present. His nemesis just said, ‘‘No mas.” His biggest rival just threw in the white towel. The only man standing between him and world domination has decided to step aside and sit down. Urban Meyer’s shocking resignation as the Florida coach, for health reasons, is an unhealthy development for SEC football. It took Meyer just two years at Florida to take control of the nation’s best conference and, as a by-product, the nation. It took Saban just three years at Alabama to catch and pass Meyer, but as long as Meyer was in command in Gainesville, Saban would have at least one worthy adversary. Now that Meyer has said good-bye, let me be among the first to welcome everyone else back to the 1970s. Auburn fans remember those years as the dark ages, when Alabama was at the height of its powers and no one could match up year-in and year-out.[More]

Alabama’s Rose Bowl tradition
‘Remember the Rose Bowl, we’ll win then … ” These famous words from the song, “Yea Alabama,” speak of the University of Alabama’s football tradition and its storied trips to the Rose Bowl. Since Jan. 1, 1926, football fans throughout Etowah County have talked about the Crimson Tide’s success in the granddaddy of ’em all, which includes four wins and one tie in six trips to Pasadena, Calif. Although Alabama’s trip to compete against the University of Texas on Jan. 7 in the BCS Championship Game is technically not the Rose Bowl itself, the game will be played in this historical venue and brings back grand memories for many fans. Today the college bowl season includes 34 games which began on Dec. 19 and continue until Jan. 7. That means 68 teams will appear in a postseason game. While bowl games originally were envisioned as a reward for a team having an outstanding season, today they are a big business. Millions of dollars are paid to participating teams and the conferences they represent. To the average football fan, however, the games still mean bragging rights. [More]

Web site favors Tide over Texas in title game
Alabama is going to beat Texas in the BCS title game to claim the school’s first national championship since 1992. You can take that prediction to the bank — at least 65.2 percent of the time. The Web site (www.accuscore.com) uses a computer simulator to “play” games more than 10,000 times before they are actually kicked off. What the computer spit out concerning the Texas-Alabama matchup is a possible blowout for the Crimson Tide. The average final score of all the simulated games, according to accuscore.com, was 24.6-18.6 in favor of Alabama. According to the Web site, Alabama will win this matchup of undefeated teams 65.2 percent of the time. Perhaps more interesting is the projection that Alabama will win in a blowout (10 points or more) 41 percent of time. The Tide won close (by less than 5 points) in 13 percent of the simulated games, while the Longhorns won in a blowout 16 percent of the time and won a close game 11 percent of the time. [More]

BCS CONTENDERS FIGHTLONGLAYOFF
Before the confetti fell in Atlanta, Alabama understood it was headed to California to play for the national title. But it sure is taking a long time to actually get there. Some 33 days will pass between Alabama’s SEC Championship and its BCS national championship game. And while teams across the country have arrived in recent days at bowl sites, the Crimson Tide will remain on its campus through the end of 2009. “As a coach, you want to make sure you do everything you can to help those players get back to playing their best football,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “It’s a challenge with this much time off.” [More]

Tide ready to get back to work
Fundamental brush-ups will begin to give way to Texas-specific preparation this week as the University of Alabama resumes practicing for the BCS National Championship Game. As has been the case for each of the previous two bowl preparations under coach Nick Saban, UA spent initial bowl practices returning to the basics — blocking, tackling, technique. “Doing a lot of the practice type stuff that we would do more in camp when we’re starting to get ready for the first game of the season,” Saban said when bowl practices began. “I think we’re going to start to focus directly a little more on Texas (this) week,” said offensive guard Barrett Jones. “I think that’s the plan.” [More]

Roll Tide!

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