Britton

These last 2-3 weeks have made me absolutely disgusted and infuriated with the Heisman narrative. Let's be real here-- Kyler Murray is going to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night. He's had too many national CFB personalities banging the drum for his Heisman campaign ever since we turned the calendar to the month of November motivated by their anti-Bama & anti-SEC prejudices. Kyler will absolutely win this award now because we've all seen this movie before: ·The pundits and talking heads always get mesmerized by OU's offenses and proclaim them historically great as they ejaculate over their offensive stats. ·The QBs of these OU teams always win the Heisman (Jason White, Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield, and now Kyler Murray) because the Big 12 is seemingly under the impression Div. 1 football is a game played with two hand touch ·These Heisman winning QBs will flop in the postseason-- whether it's the BCS or CFP playoffs --reminding us all why they've earned the nickname Chokelahoma

Well, as a fan, my biggest concern is how the QB situation will be handled with 1st year OC Mike Locksley. Along with the departures in the secondary. Sure, most likely we will be fine because we're still Alabama after all. But that doesn't mean I won't worry about them until proven otherwise. Just seems like such a young team this year compared to previous championship teams.

I wouldn't worry over this. While this situation may be unusual for sports media figures in general, it's par for the course with Finebaum. He's held out until the very end on multiple occasions throughout his broadcasting career. The rumors are he, and many others prominent within the SEC Network don't believe Charlotte (current HQ home) is a viable option going forward. It's more ACC & pro sports territory than it is 'SEC country'. There was talk of relocating to Atlanta but with ESPN overall failing and losing money more and more, who knows what they're capable of still leveraging at this point?

Guys, I'm scared. This is scary stuff. I don't know how to take this.... Is the world spinning off it's axis into the heart of the sun? Is the Antichrist on Earth? I can't help but take this as an End of Days scenario. First Clay Travis, now Colin Cowherd. What is this world coming to?!

You had your shot. All you had to do was win Saturday. You would've been in. I wanted you in; we wanted you in. All of Bama Nation wanted you in! We wanted a potential rematch in the playoffs, and your win would've made our loss to you look better. You had your chance to be the first ever 2 loss team to make the playoffs. You would've made history. But you didn't. Don't blame the committee for including Alabama when you had your shot and blew it. Blame your own team & coaching staff for not taking Georgia as seriously the second time around.

Russillo for Committee Chairman 2018! This is about as honest as it gets. When co-workers, who generally fall on the sword and take up for the company and the entire profession at large, call you out like this, you know they've had enough of your schtick. Danny Kannel used to have some thought provoking points that challenged the thinking years ago, but once ESPN gave him a platform and he connected with a base of fellow SEC (Alabama in particular) haters in the media, Kannel went overboard in his gimmick and it ultimately cost him his job. Deservedly so. Joel Klatt, Colin Cowherd, and Skip Bayliss have been shoveling dirt on the Saban Dynasty for years now and applying so much backwards logic to Alabama & Saban that it's absurd. If it weren't for double standards, these guys would have no standards at all.

Excellent article, Mr. Blanton. I was a student at the University when we hired Coach Saban; which would've been during my junior year. I couldn't possibly forget the way the overall mood and atmosphere within the city of Tuscaloosa changed that late afternoon day of January 3, 2007 when the private plane carrying Mal Moore & the Saban family landed at the municipal airport in Northport. All of us—from the student body to the administration; radiating outwards to city officials, the Crimson Tide fanbase, the "sidewalk alumni", and eventually the rest of the state itself—knew we were finally back on the right track at the University of Alabama because we once again had the leaders in place who would make us feel proud again. But none of us who were in the city that day actually expected what has since commenced under Nick Saban's leadership. It's unprecedented. Something readers should also be made aware of from this time was the very real animosity Mal Moore had generated by then. It was even discussed that perhaps it would be best for Mal Moore to retire shortly after hiring Saban regardless because the relationship between Mal and the board of trustees, regents, and alumni had become very distressed by this point. It was often suggested aloud in the public forum of sports talk radio, newspapers, and the local TV shows which focused almost exclusively on Alabama and Auburn athletics that it would be best for all parties involved if Mal retired after hiring Saban so that he could "ride off into the sunset" in a gesture to salvage what clout he had remaining by gifting the Alabama faithful with his homerun hire and sitting back to watch it transpire from afar. Thank God no one at the University ever actually considered this option because Mal Moore would continue his legendary career as the Alabama AD by ensuring the foundation was in place for championships beyond just football. Mal Moore's tenure would see national championships in golf, gymnastics, softball, and volleyball in addition to the dynasty Nick Saban crafted. Mal Moore provided all of Alabama's student athletes with everything they would need to be competitive on the field and in the classroom. It is without debate that I consider Mal Moore the most important person the University of Alabama ever had. Yes— even more so than Bryant and Saban. Because without Mal Moore, there would be no link between these two immortals at the University of Alabama.

I agree completely. Florida fans have crossed over into the realm of the absurd lately. I know they want to win again. Everyone wants to win. But the way Gators fans have treated every single coach post-Steve Spurrier has just been ridiculous. They had one of the best coaches in the nation—one of the all-time greatest ever for that matter—and treated him horribly during his 6 seasons in Gainesville. And all that guy ever did was win 2 national championships, 2 SEC championships, a Heisman trophy, recruit #1 classes, and send waves of guys to the NFL. I'm referring, of course, to Urban Meyer, yet Florida fans never appreciated him even though he was actually performing better than Spurrier ever had.

I don't like this article. Is Dan Mullen the SEC's 2nd best coach? I'd say yes. He'd also crawl on his hands and knees to Gainesville to become the Gators next coach if the job were offered. But I don't see how his coaching performance against LSU later today (or for that matter, the rest of the season) should in any way reflection upon Jim McElwain in his own coaching performance versus Tennessee later today. The rationale in this article only encourages fan bases to engage in ridiculous comparisons, bad behavior, and altogether poor fan support that helps no one in the end. It brings into consideration variables that should have no impact on coaches' during their end of year job evaluations. I'm just as perplexed by Florida's poor offensive output for the past 8 years as anyone, but this type of reasoning isn't the solution. To a certain extent Florida fans deserve this for the way they treated one of their previous coaches. Urban Meyer was an excellent coach yet Florida fans never appreciated him from day 1, and were constantly on his case about something or another. I think more than anything, Florida fans just needs to back off and appreciate what McElwain has provided them. He's won the SEC East during his first 2 years when they were picked to finish no higher than 3rd in the division each preseason. I don't know what the answer to Florida's QB woes are, but more firings and hirings of head coaches isn't the answer. If I were the Florida AD, I'd advise McElwain to fix it by any means necessary—in other words, to bring in a new Offensive staff—otherwise he will be held accountable next year. But not now. Firing a coach after 3 seasons during the time of the Fourth Alabama dynasty within the conference, and a Florida State program that's running as well as it did during the Bobby Bowden years is just unreasonable. Which could only discourage other potential head coaches from taking this job in the future. No one wants to take a job where you're told to win at the highest level right away when your closest competition is operating at all-time heights, where they already have every advantage built in on Day 1.

No, I would consider Tennessee and Nebraska equivalents more so than Florida. They have history, but their national name brands are diminished and they're located in dismal recruiting states. I guess if you had to pick "sister schools", Ohio State comes closest to Alabama but I Alabama's history towers over Ohio State when you really stack them up side by side. Auburn-Michigan State is appropriate. I would liken Georgia to Penn State; I actually think Arkansas and Wisconsin fits better. I don't think Texas A&M, Florida, and LSU have Big Ten equivalents, nor does Michigan have an SEC twin.

I hate this hire. Finebaum is correct here. I've seen nothing to suggest Daboll is capable of straightening out Jalen Hurts or winning a national championship. I honestly expect us to lose to Florida State in week 1 this year in Atlanta. I hope Saban is only hiring Daboll because he was left with no other choice after Sarkisian bolted on us so late in the process. Jalen Hurts's development just got screwed up. Saban hired this guy because he'll be a good little robot who will work 19 hour days & never make any waves in the coaches offices.

Which plane of reality are you a native of exactly? "LSU will win the war against Alabama..."? LSU has never won the war against Alabama. Alabama has always dominated the series versus LSU; all throughout it's overall history. You talk like this latest run Bama is on versus LSU is a blip; an aberration. An anomaly. It's not. If anything, it's redundant. Alabama has always dominated the rest of the SEC ever since it formed in 1933 and have had multiple dynasties throughout school history. We had dynasties in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, and now during the Saban era. Hell, Alabama didn't lose a single game in Baton Rouge for 31 years in a row; from 1969-2000. And that Alabama streak only ended because LSU had, guess who, Nick Saban leading them as head coach. There's nothing wrong with having school pride but be realistic here, pal. Be more measured in your proclamations. Alabama is the greatest college football program in NCAA history. It won't be torn down or surpassed by LSU.

Lane's had a rough time in his personal life lately. He's been separated from his family ever since he came to Tuscaloosa, and he and Layla finally divorced last year. When he was hired at Bama in 2013, his family remained behind in California. She brings the kids to the big games but that's about it. There's been a lot of nasty rumors going around but I don't know if they're true or not. There's been whispers that he drinks with the players occasionally and has dated female students, but there's never been any hard evidence of that despite sooooo many people looking for it because they want a reason to slam Kiffin and Alabama both. If this stuff is true, then unloading him onto LSU may be a Trojan horse since Ed Orgeron won't demand the same level of discipline & commitment that Nick Saban does of his coaches. There's no difference between a player and a coach with Saban. He expects both to commit themselves fully to The Process.

Based on what evidence besides your own wishful thinking?

Congratulations! As a reward, you get to have Alabama's silent but violent defense obliterate you in November now.

That comment is what stuck out most to me. It's just gotten old by now to hear sportswriters & commentators (likely jealous of it) make so many passive aggressive jokes about Alabama's national titles. Okay, fine. So what? There's 5 national championships we claim that came from the 1920s-30s before the Poll Era began. Just because they came before the time the NCAA began recognizing them doesn't make them fake or made up. Just go to the Bryant Museum for proof. There are displays with national newspaper headlines, trophies, photos, and fleeting newsreel footage proving the Rose Bowl crowned Alabama the national champion in those 5 years.

All of you guys bashing Finebaum are just being ridiculous. Here in Alabama we have a saying that used to only apply to our state alone, but now it applies to the entire Southeast; "There are two types of people around here: Those who listen to the Paul Finebaum Show, and liars." Whether you like him or not (which really just means if you think he likes your team or not as opposed to grading him on his influence on college football), you are just being petulant if you can't atleast acknowledge the fact that Paul Finebaum is sports media's face & voice of SEC Sports to the rest of the nation. To everyone outside of the Southeast, he is considered the Howard Cosell of SEC football. By the way, Finebaum is by no means a dyed in the wool Alabama fan. Prior to the Nick Saban era, no sports personality in the state of Alabama was harder on the Alabama football program than Paul Finebaum. He made his name & grew his reputation by infuriating Tide fans in newspaper articles & his sports radio show by being ruthless on the Alabama football program in the decades post-Bear Bryant. Paul isn't a "Bama fan" as much as he's a fan of great coaching/leadership. In the 80s he loved Pat Dye; in the 90s Steve Spurrier; the 2000s Saban and Urban Meyer. He was also a huge fan of Tennessee Lady Vols coach Pat Summit as well. His allegiance is to greatness, not to any one program in particular.

Granted, this piece isn't relevant to the upcoming season at all, and determining "who rates where" is totally subjective— based upon opinion solely. But I think the one thing we can all unite around as a conference, and everyone here can agree on, is that if your school was listed in the Good Songs list you don't have a problem with it; and if your school wasn't, you're blasting the website & writer for ever composing such an article.

That last sentence sums up "Auburn-fan-mentality(delusion)" perfectly.

What is so ironic is that there actually are fans who see Alabama hovering around 10th in the recruiting rankings and declaring 2016 recruiting it a failure– it just isn't the Alabama fans who are saying this however. That alone surmises the unparalleled level of success Alabama has earned over the past 8 years. When Alabama finishes NSD with only a likely 3rd-6th place finish, opponents declare that a win. Not a win for their school or a win for their conference– a win for all of college football. That is where Alabama football is nowadays. Simply unmatched. P.S.: It doesn't matter if Alabama doesn't win the February 2016 national championship. With all the talent Alabama redshirted from the 2015 class, Alabama is going to end up starting 2016 fall camp with the most talented freshmen competing for playing time anyway, although they won't have the #1 signing class in February. Basically, Alabama's group of true & redshirt freshman will be better than everyone else's freshmen by the time August camp rolls around.

No, because Cory Grant left for Alabama for Auburn; Alvin Kamara left Bama for Tennessee; and Rick Clausen left LSU for Tennessee. Those are just off the top of my head; I'm sure I'm forgetting some more obvious examples. Plus, Chris Black has already graduated so he can transfer and play immediately because he has his diploma. I would assume that if there is a rule against transferring within the conference, having your degree already would likely offset the direct transferring the way it offsets eligibility for playing time rightaway.

Wow. Did you come up with that all by yourself? "Alabama fans are toothless, illiterate..."? That is simply the most original, creative insult I've ever heard an embittered, envious fan of a middle-of-the-road program lob at a fan of the greatest college football program of all time. Let's put aside how absurd that weak insult is and focus on the sheer innovation it required to come up with it... Simply marvelous. Oh, by the way, of course we Alabama fans are like Yankees fans: When your team is the greatest of all time in that particular sport, you have earned the right to be the most loud, obnoxious, and proud fans in that particular sport. My advice to you? Get used to it. We have been dominating for the past 90 years so there's no reason to think it will end now. I'll make a deal with you: You Missouri fans to back to scrubbing your white rocks in the end zone, and us Alabama fans will continue polishing our crystal footballs & championship trophies.

"What chances would this kid have had of getting his scholarship renewed in 2017-18 if he wasn't on the two-deep by then"? 100%. I would point out all the examples of 3 star recruits who never cracked the 2-deep rotation within a 3 or 4 years that Alabama still renewed their scholarships every year regardless..... but you're a biased a hater who only wants the story that fits your preconceived narrative instead of the reality. Thus, I won't waste my time. The amount of work and research Alabama puts into all of their targeted recruits is above and beyond what all the other schools do. Alabama doesn't offer a kid without being prepared for the possibility of the kid not advancing beyond the scout team in his 4 years of eligibility, and the staff has no problem with renewing scholarships for those kids because they believe preparation is the key to success. And if you're just a scout team guy, that has value in their eyes.

Umm...... No. Just, no. Utterly atrocious. Take that garbage to Clemson since Dabo is trying his best to let the world know Clemson has always tried to be an Alabama knockoff.

When it comes to Jemelle Hill, there can be no overreacting.

Blowhio State fans are easily the worst fans in America because of how ignorant and disrespectful they all are. They have a complex; I don't even know what you would call it– Little Brother Syndrome perhaps? For decades they lived in a bubble and an echo chamber of thinking Northern football was all there was. Then the 1970s came along and they began a streak of 0-11-1 against SEC schools in bowl games. They were raised on the false notions of beating Michigan and Notre Dame would mean you're better than everyone else in the nation. Not so much, in reality. After the SEC integrated, the South became the hotbed of talent and the Big Ten was exposed as not being the best conference in the country as sportswriters in the Northeast and Midwest bubble purported for so long. So now they're stuck in this weird place of being a prestige program but they don't act like it because they're still suffering from 4 decades of being bitter, sore losers. I mean, who the hell spends their offseason calling a talkshow in another conference? Alabama fans aren't calling the Big Ten Network to boast about their national titles. Ohio State is nothing more than a group of jealous, immature, disrespectful, bad sportsmanship, ignorant fanbase channeling decades of professional sports failure into the Buckeyes. The reason they won't be Alabama or ever reach Alabama's level is because they have no respect for the competition or knowledge of the game itself. If Alabama's fanbase has taken on & embodied the qualities of Coach Bryant, Ohio State has done the same with their most well known coach, Woody Hayes: a disgusting, hateful, poor sportsmanship failure of a human being.

You may be calling it like you see it but you have an enormous blind spot. Finebaum isn't a fan or admirer of Alabama exclusively. He's a an admirer of greatness within coaches. This past decade he's been fascinated with Nick Saban– Hell, how could you not be?! The man is absurdly accomplished and consistently great year-in, year-out. But in the 90s Finebaum was a Steve Spurrier groupie. He wasn't as professed in his admiration of Pat Dye, Gene Stallings, and Vince Dooley in the 1980s-early 90s, but he respected them highly because they were also very good coaches themselves. He was also very outspoken in the job Bruce Pearl was doing as the Tennessee basketball coach, and the job Rick Pitino & John Calipiari did in Lexington as the Kentucky coach. But the two coaches I've seen Paul Finebaum view with the utmost reverence were Coach Bryant and Tennessee women's coach Pat Summit. They earned a status in Paul's eyes of being beyond reproach. Look, you obviously aren't aware of Finebaum's career overall because he was the most hated sportswriter in the state of Alabama by Crimson Tide fans for much of the 80s, and in the mid 90s-2007 when Saban was finally hired. You should Google some of Finebaum's columns from when he was a writer for the Birmingham Post Herald: those are some of the most scathing, scorching opinions of Alabama football ever written! He's most certainly not an "Alabama fan"; he's a " greatness fan".

Wow... Talk about a slow news day when THIS warrants an article.

The 1941 title is the most murky but there's a reason for that. Alabama played more games that season than the other top teams in '41. Also, Alabama participated in and won a bowl game while the other top teams from the Big Ten, Ivy League, Notre Dame, and the service academies did not play in bowl games– something most Northern teams did in those decades. Until the proliferation of television in the 1950s & 60s, bowls that weren't the Rose Bowl were viewed as an unnecessary risk by premiere Northern schools; something only the rising programs participated in to try to raise their profile nationally. In addition to Alabama having a fantastic head coach in Frank Thomas with an incredible track record up to that point, there was a school-of-thought among some crowning agencies that Alabama had played a tougher schedule and had actually demonstrated being a better team than Minnesota or Texas that year. Thus, Alabama was more deserving in their eyes. I'm not defending UA claiming the 1941 title, I'm just explaining why some agencies awarded Alabama the crown that year. Regardless of the official number, Alabama has the most national titles of all. According to the NCAA's tally, using the Wire Service/Poll Era beginning in 1936 as the standard metric, Alabama currently has 10 NCs and can win it's 11th Monday night with a win against Clemson. Notre Dame has 8; and Oklahoma, USC, and Ohio State each have 7. No matter how you slice it, Alabama has the most. 'Nuff said.

How pathetic can you possibly be? Alabama isn't bad for the sport. It's bad for Colin Cowturd because he hates them so much and can't stand Bama & the SEC dominating. It's bad for Colin Cowturd because he's had a "Death of Alabama" eulogy he wrote years ago and still hasn't been given a chance to read to the butthurt millions Alabama has conquered & enslaved along the way. Keep it up Bama! Break this queer's heart and smash his soul! Everyone hates a tyrant...... and we are the tyrant! Roll Tide Roll!