Happy, happy Monday, everyone. We got an extra “happy” in there this morning because Alabama won while all of the teams featured in the special lyrics to Dixieland Delight lost.
What a weekend, eh?
Alabama
has now fully made up for the loss in the season opener, ranked four spots ahead of where they were in the preseason.
Alabama football earned a quality win on Saturday, beating Tennessee 37-20 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. On Sunday, when the latest coaches poll and Associated Press media top 25 rankings were released, The Crimson Tide was rewarded for it.
Kalen DeBoer’s team climbed two spots in both polls, up to No. 4 nationally. Just one SEC team is ranked ahead of the Tide, that being No. 3 Texas A&M, which is undefeated after a win over Arkansas on Saturday.
The Big Ten holds the top two spots in the polls. Ohio State remains at No. 1, with Indiana jumping one spot to No. 2 in both.
We are still two weeks away from the first rankings from the College Football Playoff committee, but if Alabama wins this week there is no reason to believe that they won’t be in the top 5 there as well.
ESPN also has Alabama 4th in their power rankings.
Perhaps the biggest lesson the Crimson Tide have learned is how to play with an edge, something that was missing in the season opening loss to Florida State. Over their six-game winning streak, the Tide have rewritten the narrative to their season and coach Kalen DeBoer praised his team for finding a different way to win every week with the type of edge that makes the difference. In a 37-20 win over Tennessee, it was the defense that stepped up for its best performance to date. Ty Simpson has led the way with his steady leadership, making clutch throws to help the Tide seal wins against Georgia and Missouri. It has not looked pretty at times, and DeBoer acknowledges this team still has a long way to go, but the sign of any good team is finding ways to win. And that is what Alabama has done since the opener. The Crimson Tide are now sitting in great position to make their way back to the SEC title game, particularly after four straight wins against ranked conference opponents. Quite the turnaround from late August, when there were questions about whether DeBoer was the right guy to lead this team. — Andrea Adelson
Hopefully they don’t lose that edge.
Alex Scarborough has a fair question for Alabama fans.
DeBoer’s got Simpson playing like the Heisman Trophy frontrunner that he is — not just accurate, but confident and decisive in pressure situations. A leader this team believes in.
He’s got the defense, which is still far from perfect, making plays. They’ve certainly got an opportunistic streak in them and maybe even an emerging pass-rusher in Yhonzae Pierre, who stepped into the starting lineup after Russaw and Latham went down.
He’s got Williams looking more like the superstar we all know he can be. Paired with Germie Bernard, Isaiah Horton and Lotzeir Brooks, it might be the best group of receivers in the country.
He has Alabama inside the top-five and squarely in the playoff race.
So I’ll ask if he won’t: do you like Kalen DeBoer now?
Are you ready, finally, to embrace him?
How about now that his name has come up in the Penn State coaching search? I don’t think that will be the only program that casts a longing glance in his direction, even though for the record I don’t see him leaving anytime soon.
We are now 20 games into Kalen’s tenure. It’s fair to rate three of those 20 as duds: Oklahoma and Michigan last season, and FSU this season. Those games happened, and represent 15% of his body of work. But, he has the team rolling at the moment and fans seem to dig the black hoodie version.
It’s an interesting question. Where are you on DeBoer, at this stage? Vote and give us your thoughts in the comments.
Nick Kelly has a cool nugget on how Mo Linguist coached up Zabien Brown before the pick six.
“Right before, we had put a different package on the field,” Brown said. “(Linguist) was like, ‘oh alert, alert the pop pass. Alert the pop pass.”
That might not mean much to the average football fan, but it registered with Brown. A few seconds later …
“The ball fell right in my hand,” he said.
Brown had picked off Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar on the goal line. Then the Alabama cornerback ran to the other end zone. The 99-yard touchdown provided a 14-point swing going into halftime.
The best thing about that play is that it changed the game. The second best thing is that we now have this meme, forever.
Is that Silent Bob over to the left?
OK, one more reaction shot for old time’s sake.
Next up, the Tide travels to South Carolina where QB LaNorris Sellers sounds eager to get a signature win.
Ahead of the season, South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers was thought of as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. That hasn’t quite panned out, but he’s still the engine behind the offense, which struggled mightily in a loss to Kentucky when he was injured early.
Sellers is the kind of quarterback who has hurt the Crimson Tide in the past, able to make plays with his legs and arm. He nearly led the Gamecocks all the way back in last year’s game against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and USC went on a late-season hot streak that came up just short of the CFP.
After the Oklahoma loss, Sellers was asked about the chances that South Carolina could replicate its late-season form from last year.
“All it takes is one,” Sellers said. “Last year, the Oklahoma game was the game for us last year that sprung us on our run. All it takes is one.”
I never bought into the Sellers for Heisman hype because his passing was erratic even last season. His biggest issues this season have been protection and a dearth of great weapons around him. He is a load to bring down though, and the Gamecocks can play some defense. Looking past this team wouldn’t be a good idea.
Hayes Fawcett had some good news for us yesterday.
Howard is just a three star, but held an offer from Florida and was committed to Georgia. He is probably another example of a lower priced project that every team will be digging for, just like NFL teams do in the late rounds of the draft.
It was another good day for Tide players in the NFL. Mac Jones got himself another win as a starting QB, but DeVonta Smith won the weekend with his 9 catch, 183 yard performance including this bomb from Jalen Hurts.
Looks like the defending champs are starting to hit their stride.
Last, I asked above about your thoughts on DeBoer. I think we can all unite in throwing our support behind Hugh Freeze down in Auburn. It would simply be wrong not to give him every opportunity to get this thing turned around.
Don’t back down, Hugh. We’re behind you.
That’s about it for today. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.
