The 84th Iron Bowl: Keeping Bama’s Playoff Hopes Alive

My beloved Crimson Tide must beat Auburn to have a snowflake’s chance in Hell of making the College Football Playoffs. Auburn hasn’t won back-to-back home Iron Bowls since 2005 and 2007, but the Tigers would love nothing more than to knock their Bama rivals out of playoff contention.

This year’s Iron Bowl doesn’t have the same deafening buzz as in years past.  Neither team has a path to Atlanta for the SEC Championship.  Only Alabama has an opportunity for a playoff spot if they get help from around college football during Rivalry Week/Championship Saturday. Alabama is the only team to have made the first five college playoffs.  That streak is in jeopardy.

Root for Michigan:  If the Buckeyes lose to the Wolverines and lose next week in Indianapolis, Bama has a chance of getting in.

Root for South Carolina:  The ACC is in the cellar this season.  Any loss for Clemson would destroy the Tigers’ chances for the playoffs.

Root for the Rambling Wreck:  The Jawja Bulldawgs losing a second game against an ACC team would damage their rèsumè with the Selection Committee, but we’ll leave crossing them off the list to Coach Oeaux’s LSU Tigers.

Root for the Badgers:  If the Badgers beat Minnesota, they would face Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.  A one-loss Ohio State alongside a conference champion Minnesota or Wisconsin team would add chaos to the Selection Committee rankings.

Simply stated, for Alabama to make the playoffs the top three teams (Ohio State, LSU and Clemson) would have to remain the same, Alabama beats Auburn today and Georgia loses the SEC title game against LSU next week in Atlanta.

Can the stringbean wearing No. 10 who was thrust into the spotlight to replace Superman lead the Tide to victory in a game that means everything to the players in Crimson and White?

The sports experts and pundits have written off the Tide for weeks now and I think Alabama will show up and prove they are, in fact, one of the top four teams in the country.

The game will be decided in the matchup between Alabama’s offensive line and Auburn’s defense.  If Bama’s O-line can protect Mac Jones, he’ll be able to get rid of the ball and let his receivers torch the Auburn secondary.

The training wheels are definitely off.  Offensive Coordinator Steve Sarkisian will call the game as if Tagovailoa were starting the game.  He’ll be aggressive relying on the run and RPOs.  Mac can handle that kind of game plan.

Blogger friend and SEC sister, Diogenes, has a great post over at her place.  We eat, drink and sleep college football and if she says Bama wins today, then you can take that to the bank.

Auburn Tigers Vs Alabama Crimson Tide: 2018 Iron Bowl

The state of Alabama got two holidays this week:  Thanksgiving Day and the 83rd Iron Bowl. 

The Auburn-Alabama rivalry has always been a heated and bitter contest, but something is coming this time:  REVENGE.

Coach Saban won’t have to remind his players about last year. Nope. No sir.  They’ll want their reckoning.

The Crimson Tide has never lost two in a row to Auburn. Defeat has been followed by a victory scoring an average of 25 points and will likely be up by that much by halftime.

War Buzzard fans, buoyed by their defeat of the Tide in last year’s Iron Bowl contest, believe they can ruin their most hated rival’s chances of getting into the College Football Playoffs.

Did they hear what ESPN analyst Trevor Matich said about Saturday’s Iron Bowl? “Literally, if a spaceship comes down and abducts the entire Alabama team, Auburn would have a chance.”

Head Coach Gus Malzahn is 2-3 against Coach Saban’s Murderball in his six years with the Tigers.

Bama QB Tua Tagovailoa is not Hurts, Blake Sims or Jake Coker.  He broke A.J. McCarron’s single season touchdown record against The Citadel last Saturday passing for 340 yards and 4 TDs. On the season, he’s thrown for 2,865 yards, 31 TDs and just two INTs. He’s also added four rushing TDs.

There are other rivalry games:

No. 13 Florida at Florida State (who cares?)

No. 4 Michigan at No. 10 Ohio State (Go Buckeyes!)

Georgia Tech at No. 5 Georgia (who cares?)

South Carolina at No. 2 Clemson (Go Gamecocks!)

No. 3 Notre Dame at USC (Go Trojans!)

2017 SEC Championship Game

Conference Championship weekend is finally here.  This year I’m sitting on pins and needles fretting over whether my beloved Crimson Tide will make it into the CFB Playoffs.

Oddsmakers, sports pundits, pollsters and navel gazers be damned.  After today the Selection Committee has the steering wheel.  One thing’s for certain:  The Top Four will consist of the SEC Championship game winner and the winner of the ACC Championship game along with either the Buckeyes or Bama.

I have loathed Ohio State ever since Head Coach Woody Hayes punched Clemson’s Charlie Bauman in the 1978 Gator Bowl after he intercepted a pass from Art Schlichter.  I want Bama to go to the playoffs so bad I can taste it and am more than willing to root for them against the Badgers.  I feel dirty, like a politician.  If Wisconsin wins, its curtains for both Bama and the Buckeyes.  Please, oh, please don’t let that happen.

They say I must summon the football gods’ favor for the game between TCU and the Sooners.  I can’t stand the hot-headed, crotch-grabbing, bird-flipping Baker Mayfield.  I have no problem pulling for the Horned Frogs to knock Oklahoma out of the Top Four.

The game between the Clemson Tigers and the Canes of Miami won’t budge the standings, but a win by the Tigers assures there won’t be two ACC teams getting in.

Finally, the game between the Bulldawgs of Jawja and the (expletive) godforsaken (expletive) flea-bitten Auburn (expletive) Tigers for the SEC Championship.  I’ve been doing the Vulcan Mind Meld with Coach Smart.  I want Kirby to pluck War Eagle bald.  Auburn is the first two-loss team to be ranked in the Top Four.  What a (expletive) travesty!

Auburn, according to ESPN’s Matchup Predictor, has a 50.5% chance of victory against the Dawgs.

The experts who, by the way, hate Alabama claim if Auburn wins Nick Saban’s boys from Tuscaloosa could brag its only loss was to the SEC Champs.  Aw, hell no.  That ain’t good enough bubba.  Kirby was Saban’s defensive coach for ten years.  He knows defense I tell ya and the Dawgs will be out to maul Jarret Stidham and avenge their 40-17 loss to the Tigers at Jordan-Haire stadium.

Alabama Crimson Tide Vs Auburn Tigers: The 82nd Iron Bowl

Alrighty SEC fans.  The annual battle in a long-standing war between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the flea-infested War Eagle will take place on the gridiron of Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The cross-state rivals will battle for the second time in four years for the Southeastern Conference Western Division Championship for a shot at East Division Champs─the Jawja Bulldawgs in Atlanta.  The SEC West crown will not be bestowed without a bloody-knuckle grudge match.  This year Bama is a favorite, but by only 4.5 points.  Hoo boy!

ESPN’s Matchup Predictor gives the Tide a 60.6% probability of victory against the Tigers.  After 81 Iron Bowl games, Alabama leads the series 45-35-1.  None of that matters.

Auburn fans crow incessantly about the 1963 game in which Joe Namath was bested by backup QB Mailon Kent to win 10-6 and the 1972 “Punt Bama Punt” game in which the Tide was forced to punt the ball two times in the fourth quarter.  Both kicks were blocked and returned for touchdowns erasing a 16-0 lead and Auburn winning the game 17-16.

In the final quarter of the 78th Iron Bowl, Auburn rallied to tie the game 28-28 with 32 seconds left on the game clock.  After the Tigers punted the ball, the Tide lined up on the 38-yard line with no time left on the clock.  The game would have gone into overtime but Coach Saban challenged the time-keeping call and one second was put back on the clock.  Bama lined up for a field goal attempt that didn’t have enough distance.  The Tigers’ Chris Davis caught the ball in the end zone running the entire distance of the field scoring the winning touchdown.

If the report from Matt Zenitz is true inside linebacker Christian Miller who was injured in the season opener against FSU is expected to be cleared to play against Auburn and Terrell Lewis is “on track to return soon as well, though likely the SEC Championship Game, if the Tide makes it there.”

I hate the “Barners” and nothing could be more delicious than denying them their beloved tradition of tossing toilet paper after a victory, known as “rolling the oaks” in Toomer’s Corner.

2016 Iron Bowl: Alabama Crimson Tide Vs Auburn Tigers

No. 1 Alabama clinched the SEC West Championship (its third straight) two Saturdays ago when it drubbed Mississippi State 51-3 and Auburn lost to Georgia 13-7.

The Dawgs had possession of the ball for 39 minutes of the game and made 21 first downs compared to the Tigers’ paltry 10.  UGA had 208 passing yards and 135 rushing yards.  Auburn was in control in the first half but when the Dawgs returned after halftime the game’s momentum swung in their favor.

The 81st meeting in the rivalry game known as the Iron Bowl will kick off at 3:30 PM ET at Bryant-Denny Stadium.  CBS will carry the game. The Crimson Tide won six of the last eight slobberknockers including the last two games.  Bama leads the series 44-35-1.

Auburn last won at Bryant-Denny in 2010 when Cam Newton was under center.  The Tigers come to Tuscaloosa banged up pretty bad.  Unsurprisingly War Eagle is the heavy underdog in this game.  The Tide has a 78.8% chance of taking the Tigers by their tail and beating the snot out of them.

Will Sean White’s shoulder injury keep him out of the Iron Bowl?  Will star running back Kamryn Pettway be well enough to play after sitting out the last two games?  Head Coach Gus Malzahn is hopeful he can play them both.  They’re going to need them badly to even have a shot at taking down the Tide.

The rivalry between these two schools has long been recognized as one of the most heated in the country.  Auburn is beaten down and desperate.  That’s no way to come into Tuscaloosa—with the Houndstooth, the Rammer Jammer, the bragging fans, the Finebaum freaks and the Kiffin troll game—but come they must however demoralized they may be.  They’re asking themselves isn’t four national titles in seven years enough?  Nope.  No it isn’t.

I saw on ESPN’s Gameday two Saturdays ago that Washington wanted Bama?  Really?  Don’t make me laugh.  The Huskies got beaten by USC 26-13.  Bama annihilated the team that beat them on September 3rd 52-6. Surely nobody has ever won five titles in eight years, have they?  Hmmmm.

And finally, anyone who follows this blog knows that I am steeped in Alabama football and a reverence for Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant which goes all the way back to my childhood.  I learned to love the game my daddy loved.  He would be proud of the boys from Tuscaloosa.  And, I swear, I can hear him hootin’ and hollerin’ up there in Heaven after every victory.

Coach Bryant is hoisted on the shoulders of his team after completing an undefeated regular season. The first nationally televised Iron Bowl featured Alabama quarterback Joe Namath and receiver Ray Perkins who led the Tide to a 21 - 14 victory over the Auburn Tigers in the November 26, 1964 matchup held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo credit:  Robert Adams/The Birmingham News)

ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Alabama Vs Auburn

This post was queued to publish today because I am still enjoying my time with friends over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Today, however, is a biggie for fans of the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers.  The “The Iron Bowl” kicks off at 7:45 PM ET from Bryant-Denny Stadium in T-town and airs on ESPN.  The Iron Bowl game dates back to 1893.  Alabama leads the series 42-35-1.

Last week, Alabama celebrated its Homecoming.  Part of the festivities included a pep rally featuring legendary defensive great Marty Lyons.  Lyons was the 1978 Consensus First-Team All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year.  Lyons is also a College Football Hall of Famer. 

Alabama was playing the Western Carolina Catamounts last Saturday, but Lyons stirred the Homecoming crowd with this, "A week from now, when our good friends Auburn come in, we are going to open up a can of whip-ass!  And we're going to show them exactly what 'Roll Tide Roll' means!"

The rivalry between The Tide and The War Eagle of Auburn is one of the fiercest in college football.  Alabama suffered an inordinate number of injuries in their 48-14 win over WCU.  Star receiver Amari Cooper, nose tackle A’Shawn Robinson, left tackle Cam Robinson, fullback Jalston Fowler, receiver ArDarius Stewart and tight end Brian Vogler were all taken off the field.  Alabama also held out T.J. Yeldon, DeAndrew White and Adam Griffith.

It scares me to think that even one of these players would not be able to take the field against the Tigers.

Today’s game is a chance for revenge pay back after last year’s 34-28 loss to the Tigers and a chance to keep their national title hopes alive.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!

For any of you who may be an Auburn fan reading this post, enjoy this amusing video entitled, “Don’t Give Auburn A ‘Second’ Chance.”

Sophie’s Slacker Saturday

Today is Saturday and there’s no Bama game.  My beloved Crimson Tide has a bye this week.

I will be relegated to watching the SEC games involving teams Bama will face after they whip the LSU Tigers on Saturday, November 8th.

No. 2 Florida State managed to survive a half-time 21-0 deficit against Louisville to win 42-31 on Thursday.  I’ll have to set up the TV’s picture-in-picture to watch No. 3 Auburn take on No. 4 Ole Miss at 7:00 PM, Arkansas playing No. 1 Mississippi State at 7:15 PM and peek in once in a while on Stanford vs. No. 5 Oregon at 7:30 PM.

I don’t have to tell you I’m rooting for the Rebels, Hogs and Cardinal to pull the win against the Tide’s competition for the College Football Playoffs that will lead to crowning a national champion.

One can safely say that the current rankings will surely change after today.  What will matter is the decision the Selection Committee makes on December 7th.

Meanwhile, my furkid Sophie will do what she does best—look adorable while snoozing on the couch beside me as I enjoy some honest-to-God smashmouth football.

A House Divided

This is the final week of college football’s regular season.  Today’s lineup includes a few “house divided” matchups:

Georgia (3) Georgia Tech 12:00PM

Michigan (19) Ohio State 12:00PM

Oregon (5) Oregon St (15) 3:00PM

Florida (4) Florida State (10) 3:30PM

Alabama (2) Auburn 3:30PM

Stanford (8) UCLA (17) 6:30PM

South Carolina (12) Clemson (11) 7:00PM

Missouri Texas A&M (9) 7:00PM

Notre Dame (1) USC 8:00PM

I know I’m going to catch a lot guff for what I’m about to say, but here’s how I hope the day will end up.

I want Georgia to defeat Georgia Tech’s Rambling Wreck.  I’ll be pulling for the Gators to take down the ‘Noles of Florida State.  Naturally, I’m anxious to see the Crimson Tide roll past the Tigers of Auburn.  And finally, I’ve got my fingers crossed that the USC Trojans rout the Irish of Notre Dame.

Bama’s regular season schedule ends with the Iron Bowl at home at Bryant-Denny Stadium.  This is a must-win for the No. 2 Tide to advance to the SEC title game against No. 3 Georgia. 

Auburn is under investigation by the NCAA for its recruiting practices and Head Coach Gene Chizik has recently come under fire for Auburn’s dismal season.  These are factors that will serve to distract the Tigers today in what I predict will be a solid victory for Alabama.

If Alabama emerges victorious, they will be headed to Atlanta to face the Dawgs of Georgia for the SEC Championship.

Some say that Alabama is not the unstoppable team the Tide faithful claim because of its loss to Texas A & M, but let’s not forget that just last week Oregon and Kansas State suffered crushing defeats. 

Notre Dame is the only undefeated team going into this weekend.  Just a few weeks ago, the Fighting Irish were considered to be the weakest undefeated team in college football.  I’m not looking to make any enemies here, but I still think they are.

UPDATE I:  Dawgs wreck Tech 42-10, Tide destroys Tigers 49-0 and Gators chomp Noles 37-26.  Awaiting kickoff between USC and Notre Dame.

UPDATE II:  Aw geez. The Irish whipped the Trojans 22-13.  Now the rest of the nation’s college football fans have to listen to garbage like this from ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski:  “For the moment, Notre Dame is better than everyone. That's what the record says. That's what the BCS standings say. That's what the locker room celebration said.”