First off let's all understand that every bit of this is speculative, at best. Lest some of you forget, so-called reliable sources reported that it was a "done deal" that Herman was heading to LSU! How did that turn out? I have no inside sources and I don't pretend to know what Coach Saban's motives are, but I find it highly unlikely that bringing Sarkisian into the program was just for the sole purpose of being an offensive analyst for one season. My two cents worth is that Saban knew, one way or another and for whatever reason, this was going to be Kiffin's final season in T-Town and hiring Sarkisian was all part of his contingency plan. If you'll recall, Kiffin was asked by Saban to come analyze and consult on BAMA's offense just weeks prior to facing Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. A few months later he was hired to replace Nussmeier as the offensive coordinator.

Honestly not trying to be a bammer homer, but even if Pettway had been 100% it probably wouldn't have mattered very much!

My sentiments exactly!

Penalties: UA 6-29 - LSU 3-20! Yep, that certainly looks like referee bias to me! smh Coach O may have a legitimate complaint, but it would behoove him to review and analyze the entire game footage before filing said complaint. Considering the fact that LSU could have and should have had multiple penalties charged against them on both sides of the ball, throughout the majority of the game, it would be wise to leave the matter be!

"We’ve been letting them off the hook for the last couple of years." “We’re going to be at home. I feel like we have the edge to take it to them, and we’re going to take it to them. I feel like we’re going to dominate this game.” Those quotes don't sound as much confident as they do arrogant! LSWho is going to dominate this game? Really? When was the last time that they dominated BAMA? It would be Thomas' best interest to keep his pie hole shut and let his playing speak for itself. Assuming, that is, he can actually backup his brash mouth!

I feel fairly certain that UT won't be facing an overconfident BAMA team Saturday, or in December!

Kudos to you! Someone that actually understands how betting lines work and why the move! Having said that, I'd still take BAMA and the 13 because I honestly don't think that it will be that close!

Honestly not trying to be a homer, but I honestly feel that BAMA covers the spread! I got BAMA 45-28!

In the words of Bugs Bunny, "what a maroon"! How the heck did BAMA get drug into this? Who does he propose that BAMA reschedule in order to accommodate his Tigers?Long story short, the SEC should mandate a specific date and venue and make UF and LSU play the game! If one or the other disagrees, then disqualify both from any shot at the SECCG, Period!

Bamacounsel, you are correct! In fact, "Targeting and Initiating Contact to Head or Neck Area of a Defenseless Player (Rule 9-1-4) No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent with the helmet, forearm, fist, elbow or shoulder. When in question, it is a foul. (Rule 2-27-14)". I have watched the replay over and over and over again, Refs definitely blew it! Fortunately, Jalen was not seriously hurt!

As a Die-Hard BAMA fan, I sure would love to be able to buy into all of this nonsense, but BAMA has some areas yet to get straightened out and are NOT a playoff contender just yet! Was saying to some of my co-workers, just this morning, that TAMU and ARKY are my two biggest concerns for the remainder of the season. As I see it, IF Hurts can continue to grow and adjust to the speed of the game, allowing Kiffin to open up the playbook a little more, and the offensive line can come together as a unit, especially in run blocking, then the TIDE should be alright! IF the aforementioned doesn't happen soon enough, then BAMA could suffer a lose to either the Aggies, or the Hogs or both!

Oh the irony. Alec Morris, in turn, will also be facing a former Alabama QB in Luke Del Rio for the Gators.

Oh we noticed. We noticed that the Viles vaunted "D" line had trouble stopping the run and that their "O" line had problems opening holes and blocking for Hurd and Kamara! We noticed that Dobbs still has issues when the play is disrupted and he is forced to scramble and make a play! Having said all of that though, most all the SEC teams have plenty of room for improvement after week 1. It just appears that some teams have more work to do than others; for example, UT compared to BAMA!

I believe that I read somewhere that Richt would coach UGA through their bowl game, so one would assume that Kirby would do the same at BAMA! My guess, and it is just that a guess, is that Kirby would head to UGA after the playoffs!

Might I add that the collegiate officials, like their NFL counterparts, need to more control the flow or speed of the game. Look back at replays from the past few seasons where up-tempo HUNH offenses were involved and you'll frequently find officials sprinting to get into position and/or not being in position at all to make proper calls. For what it's worth, I feel that this is the real reason that coaches like Malzahn and Rich Rod prefer their faster paced offenses!

I get that the premise of this article is to, yet again, point a condemning finger at Nick Saban, but why not address the real issue. “There’s no pertinent data that shows we had a safety problem,” which actually means that no real effort has been made in an attempt to gather such data. Law of averages (the expectation that a possible event is bound to occur regularly with a frequency approximating to its probability) dictates that when you increase the amount of plays within a ball game, you also increase the probability of injury.

I've been a die-hard BAMA fan for the majority of my 50 years and up until these past few years never held any real ill will toward the AU fan base, BUT now I have nothing but contempt for most of them! After BAMA hammered A&M 59-0, the barners flooded the message boards saying that it wasn't any big deal because, in their own words, A&M sucked! Well that same Aggie team just spanked the barn 41-38 in their own house! Team of destiny? It would appear that they are destined to be butt hurt this year! BTW, don't be terribly surprised if UGA beats them next weekend!

In response to Ethan Levine's comments about the state of affairs on the plains prior to Malzahn returning, lest you be reminded he was only away from the program for 1 year. The majority of the players had been exposed to and were recruited by Malzahn to play in his offensive scheme prior to his leaving the position of offensive coordinator at AU to take the head coaching job at Arky State. Even I wasn't terribly surprised by the turn-around from 2012 to 2013 due to the aforementioned reason, because he was familiar with the players and they with him. Chizik, though, decided to attempt to run a more pro-style offense, after Malzahn's departure, with players specifically recruited to play in the more wide open, spread the field, HUNH offense. Suffice it to say that Malzahn did not have to come in, start from scratch and build his team up over the course of several years because they were practically all his recruits/players to begin with. Nick Saban, on the other hand, in 2007 did not have the luxury of taking over a program that he had helped recruit talent for; and yet after only 1 year in Tuscaloosa went undefeated through the 2008 regular season, undefeated again through 2009 and added a National Title to boot.

Wow, the barn wins a few games and all of a sudden they think that they own the state? Talk about having a serious inferiority complex!

That's strange just read this article from another site, "Phil Steele and Las Vegas in agreement that Bama is the top team." They certainly can't both be the top team! Guess we will see come December 6, 2014!

"We don’t go around claiming titles like Bammer does." Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Jay Jacobs making a push for the barn to claim more titles, which would be just another pathetic attempt for you poor little step-brothers to try and put yourselves on the same upper echelon as Big Brother Bama??? As for the 2004 Auburn team, they would have embarrassed themselves and the SEC even worse against USC than they did last year against FSU!

Must really suck to be a jawja fan, especially since yall never had a "dynasty" to claim to begin with!!!

"You want a hint on how to beat Bama.. Cover Cooper.." Just one little problem with your suggestion, no one has yet been able to it!

Why? Because he didn't even consider Rocky Top?

Chris, I am, have been and will always be a BAMA fan, through the good and the bad! Most BAMA fans that I know feel the same way! We endured the Perkins, Curry, Dubose and Shula years, along with the multiple consecutive losses to Auburn, the probations and the growing pains of Coach Saban's first season, and never waivered in our support of the CRIMSON TIDE! Some of us grew up appreciating the deep rich tradition of winning that BAMA represents in the SEC. Most of us take pride in being part of a fan base that supports a program that is one of the Top 5 Winningest in college football history, a program that has been to and won more bowl games than any other, a program that has (by a considerable margin) won more SEC Championships than any other in the conference and a program that enjoys a winning record against every one of their SEC opponents! "Bama fans are just as fickle as any other fan base." I assume that you are including your Dawgs as one of those fickle fan bases... Right???

Urban only managed to barely beat Saban just once, and that was in Saban's second year in the SECCG! For what it is worth, Urban left the SEC because of Saban's dominance not because of Tubby! Hell, even a Shula coached BAMA team hammered Urban's Gators!

Well, at least one of them is, and that team resides in Tuscaloosa, with more SEC Championships than ANY team in the conference!

Best offense in the SEC, maybe so, but where's the defense? You know, the one that all the UGA faithful felt was on the same level as BAMA and LSU!

Looks like 
AJ McCarron is in pretty good company, and considering that the bulk of his stats were from last year (first year starter as a sophmore) he could and should be even better this year! I, personally, feel that AJ has been and is under-estimated and could end this season as one of the best QB's in the SEC! He ended the 2011 season only behind Aaron Murray and Tyler Wilson in Passing Yards and led the SEC in Completion %!

No argument that LSU has had a very good season, BUT make no mistake about it the Crimson Tide will be even more prepared this go-a-round! IF AJ's timing had been just a little bit better, then Bama would have won 21 or 28 to 6 the first time! LSU fans need not be so disillusioned about that first game, because Bama did more to lose that game than the Tigers did to win it, and that is a straight up FACT! Having said all of that, I hope that the second time is a good clean, hard fought game! RTR