But I did mention the government and Italians. Weather is general pretty good. And you have pretty much everything you could ever want within 1.5 hours. South Jersey, however, is pretty much Mississippi.

New Jersey is an absolutely wonderful place to live, save for the government and Italians.

Mac has already proven he can start and lead the offense. I doubt there will be a QB competition at all.

Hard to imagine a presser to say you're going to the NFL; however I didn't think Lebron would make a spectacle of leaving Cleveland.

Why are so many people enchanted with the idea of creating a welfare program for 2nd tier teams?

I like both teams, but LSU is having a season that deserves a National Championship. Clemson, through no fault of their own, had a cupcake schedule this year.

Love Jalen and happy he's performing so well in Oklahoma. He doesn't get enough credit for his decision to stay at Alabama his junior year and how it set him up for his current success. For those who don't remember, Jalen has regressed significantly as a QB in his sophomore year. He was basically just a running back who occasionally threw the ball. The move to Tua at QB came entirely too late and cost Alabama an SEC title as a result. However, under Enos and as a backup his Junior year, he improved significantly and was a new man at QB. What he did vs. Georgia in the SEC Championship (including converting 5 third downs with his arm on the game tying drive) was not within the realm of possibility just a year earlier. Best of luck to this wonderful young man.

You are both correct, but arguing on different metrics. Either way, Florida is not beating Alabama. Georgia would be close, but only saying that because of recent history.

I definitely wasn't going up against monsters like that in New Jersey High School football.

But that's not entirely true, otherwise Clemson wouldn't be in the top 4 with its resume and Notre Dame (correctly) wouldn't have made the playoff last year.

Does anyone actually believe Florida or Penn State have a better team than Alabama?

Correct. The refs gifted Auburn a 4th timeout.

It's not as if Alabama isn't recruiting kickers. Bulovas and Reichert were both highly rated. Austin Jones was something like 31-33 the year before transferring to Bama. They just get to campus and something awful happens.

I don't disagree with your assessment.

I know it's been a tough go lately for Tennessee, but I really believe that Tennessee fans should take more pride in the fact that they have responsibility for Alabama not winning a National Championship last year and (probably) this year. The decision to not hire Schiano led to the Pruitt hire, which severely undermined Alabama's defense, especially towards the end of last season, and this year, they hurt Tua, who was way off his game in the first half of LSU. I know it's not a win on the football field, but messing with a rival in more subtle ways is something.

Georgia seems to have the most hateful fans in the SEC. A lot tend to be very bitter and negative and hateful to other fan bases. I like Georgia and hate to see this from their fans. Sad.

I couldn't understand anything you just typed. Apologies, English is my 2nd language.

Agreed.

This seems mostly consistent. In 2014, Ohio State got in with a poor loss to VaTech and great performances towards the end of the season.

You can't say it's why they lost the game, but it was clearly a big blown call and review. Even if you assume an LSU TD on the drive, which is very fair, the ensuing INT and TD would have never happened due to time and the game would have been much closer going into the 2nd half.

It's not impossible, but it just doesn't seem very likely. The resume isn't there like it has been other seasons, the "eye test" (outside the offense), is poor, and the way the other conferences are lining up is not good for Alabama. Clemson isn't going to lose in the ACC. Big 12 is going to benefit from having their top 2 teams play in a Championship. B1G looks like it will get in with at least one team. Oregon has a good case if they win out. More likely that Bama finishes #6 than makes it in as #4.

This call was a disaster and changed the entire complexion of the game. Was so livid that we had to turn off the TV.

He should definitely be ashamed of that slide on 3rd down.

Unless we see a few big teams stumble, I don't think Bama's got the resume or eye test (on Defense at least) to get into the playoff without an SEC Championship.

Tuna?

Where's the lie?

Oh man. I think LSU has a great chance to beat the Tide this season. Alabama D is down (getting better from early season, but still worrisome) and LSU's offense is up. Should be an emotional rollercoaster of a game. Hate at it's at 3:30.

Top 2 makes sense. Ohio State looks great as does LSU. I would rank Clemson ahead of Bama. I'm not sold on Alabama's defense yet, but it is improving.

UGADAWG78 - Not sure which side you are arguing from, but if we take as given your dubious assertion that these states wouldn't be sustainable without the federal government propping them up, all the more reason for the other states to dump them as they are draining productive resources and making them all worse off.

Not at all. I think it's an absolutely wonderful idea. California doesn't have the same culture as Kansas. Heck, Northern California doesn't have the same culture as SoCal or San Francisco. Having governments that impose the will and beliefs of one disparate group onto other disparate groups is the horrible idea.