Alabama Crimson Tide Vs Louisville Cardinals

The stage has been set.  Tonight at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, FL the Tide will face off against Bobby Petrino’s Louisville Cardinals.  The game will air on ABC at 8:00 PM Eastern.

Louisville has battled the boys from Tuscaloosa exactly three times.  The series record is 2-1 favoring Bama.  Cards fan will tout their victory over the Tide in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl, but that was when Howard Schnellenberger was their coach.  Coach Saban came to Bama in 2007.

You’ve undoubtedly seen the Snickers™ candy bar commercials like the 2010 version featuring actors Betty White and Abe Vigoda getting throttled on the gridiron and then being given a Snickers™ to transform them into their true selves after being told, “You’re not you when you’re hungry.”

Somebody needs to give Petrino a Snickers™ because he was obviously delusional when he said at the team’s kickoff luncheon, “I believe we’re going to go beat ’em, so I need everybody else to believe that. And we will go beat ’em.”

The Cards no longer have Lamar Jackson under center.  The Tide, according to Bleacher Report, will play both Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa at QB tonight.  Tua appeared in 8 games last season completing 63.6% of his throws for 636 yards, eleven TDs and two INTs and who can forget the heart-stopping Hail Mary pass to DeVonta Smith giving Alabama its fifth national championship in nine years against a feisty Jawja Bulldawg team?

WHAT. A. GAME.

Tua Tagovailoa to DeVonta Smith ... BALLGAME!!!@AlabamaFTBL WINS THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!!! pic.twitter.com/WxmHdRazCQ

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 9, 2018

ESPN’s Matchup Predictor gives Alabama an 86.5% chance of victory.  That’s pretty bold.

Outmanned and outgunned, the Cards will have a hard time with Bama. Their personnel losses are substantial this season and it will be hard for them to replace the players that have moved on. Only one of their top five tacklers is returning and only four of the top 10 are back. That means that there will be a lot of inexperience for the UL defense this year and while, in time, those guys may learn the ropes, asking them to jump into the fray against the likes of Alabama is sketchy at best.

There’s simply no comparing the defensive talent fielded by Alabama with the roster for Louisville. Since 2016, the Cardinals have finished 38th, 34th, an 32nd nationally in recruiting, a far cry from the perennial top-ranked recruiting classes customary in Tuscaloosa.

Basketball Heaven: ACC Quarterfinals

Retirement has it perks.  Yesterday I enjoyed the second round of games in the ACC Tournament.  I slopped up on the couch and watched the afternoon matches between Clemson and Florida State followed by North Carolina and Boston College.

I jumped in the shower after the Tarheels shellacked the Eagles, fed my little furkid and headed out to my favorite watering hole to join friends to enjoy the contest between North Carolina State and the Pitt Panthers.  I stayed through the first half of the Canes/Hokies game and then headed back to Casa de Curmudgeon and turned in for the night.

The game plan today is to watch the first two quarterfinal games and then join my posse at the same watering hole to root for my beloved Duke Blue Devils.  I’m hoping for a victory so they can advance to the semi-finals and then on to the championship game on Saturday.

ESPN will carry the 12:00 PM tipoff featuring the Virginia Cavaliers and the Florida State Seminoles.  The Cavs have one the best defensives in the country so I think FSU is going to lose this game.

At 2:30 PM Louisville is set to play the North Carolina Tarheels.  This is their first ACC Tournament since joining the conference.  I’m not sure how they’re going to react to the venue of the Greensboro Coliseum which will be filled to the rafters with fans rooting for their “home” teams.  The two teams split their regular season meetings, but I’m predicting a victory for the Heels.

My evening will be spent with friends watching the two remaining games of the quarterfinals that pit my beloved Duke Blue Devils against the Wolfpack of North Carolina State.  The Pack had a really strong game against the Pitt Panthers and they knocked the Blue Devils from the ranks of the unbeaten back in January, but Duke drew a double-bye for the tourney so they are well-rested.  This game is going to be brutal, but I think Duke is hungry to win.

The final game of the quarterfinals will see the Irish of Notre Dame go up against the Miami Hurricanes.  I can’t stand either team and could care less who wins.  Wait.  No, that’s not true.  I’m going to root for the Canes in this one.  I don’t think they can pull off the win, but that doesn’t mean I can’t root for them.

GO DUKE

And because no basketball post would be complete without some pom-poms, check out the gals of the ACC.

UPDATE 2:15 PM:  Poor FSU.  They never had a chance against the Cavs.  They threw clunker after clunker and were slow running down court to defend and wound up losing 58-44.

UPDATE 4:42 PM:  For a team that can't decide which league they want to play in, they may want to consider yet another after losing pitifully to Carolina 70-60.  'Ol googly-eyed Rick Pitino told his players not to foul with 21 seconds left in the game.  Now the Tarheels face Virginia tomorrow in the semi-finals.

FINAL UPDATE:  I couldn't contain my joy watching the Blue Devils manhandle the Wolfpack.  The final score was 77-53.  NC State fell behind by double digits early in the first half and never had a chance at recovering.  Notre Dame barely escaped against the Canes.  They ran hot and cold but managed to win 70-63.