For the first time in 7 games, the Alabama Crimson Tide trailed a team on the scoreboard.  Ole Miss went up with an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter.  The Tide responded with 24 unanswered points.  In the second half, Ole Miss came out and weren't ready to quit.  They scored 17 unanswered points against one of the toughest defenses in the nation.  Eventually, it wasn't enough and the Rebels turned the ball over on downs late in the 4th quarter.  Bama took a knee and ran out the clock escaping with a close win 24-20. 

We saw exactly what we've seen all season.  Bama gets an early lead, attempts to run the ball to eat clock, and plays tough defense to keep the opponent from coming back.  This is Saban's strategy.  He has no other choice.  Alabama started its 16th true freshman Saturday.  Aside from some critical positions, the Crimson Tide has absolutely no depth.  This is due to recovering from the probation in which scholarships were cut.  Those juniors and senior players now are the last of the probation era Tide players.  In a couple of years, we'll see more depth from the Tide as the Saban recruiting machine continues to roll out.  Now, however, it's a different story.  If Bama loses a couple of key players, their season could be in jeopardy. 

One of the key Tide players did go down with an injury in Saturday's win.  Terrence "Mount" Cody went out with a knee injury during the game.  Cody is the anchor of that defensive line and part of the reason the Tide had the 4th best rush defense in the country entering Saturday's game.  He's huge, agile, and stops up the middle.  Replacing him will not be easy.  Fortunately, according to reports, Cody isn't likely to be out more than two weeks with his injury.  That means he'll be back just in time for the LSU game, which will probably be the most crucial game for the Tide the rest of the way.

This is where the depth of the Tide will become an issue.  As the season comes to a close, these guys will be banged up, injured, and tired.  This can have a significant impact on their play down the stretch.  Bama can't afford to lose many more players at this point.  Fortunately, they've been lucky that none have really gone down with serious injuries.  If they want to play for the SEC or national championship, they'll need to keep all of their players healthy because quite simply, the depth is not there.

With week 8 of the college football season looming, it's time to look at some of the matchups the top 5 are looking at this week.

11 Missouri at 1 Texas

The game of the week.  Chase Daniels and the Mizzou gang will be heading into Texas for a brutal matchup against the top team in the nation.  Colt McCoy has been playing Heisman caliber football but Mizzou is trying to recover from that surprise loss to the Cowboys last week.  Look for this to be a high scoring matchup as two of the nation's best QB's go toe-to-toe in an old fashioned Big 12 shootout.  I know Mizzou is tough and bouncing back from a loss will be hard for them.  I'm taking the Longhorns in a close one.

Texas 38
Missouri 34

Ole Miss at 2 Alabama

Ole Miss is looking to continue its reputation of shaking things up in the SEC this season.  We all know what happened the last time the Rebels were overmatched and playing in an unfriendly environment.  They escaped with a win against one of the nation's best teams in Florida.  Can they do the same again at Tuscaloosa?  My money's on the Tide.  Their running game has been amazing as has their defense.  They've never trailed in a football game this season.  I don't look for Ole Miss to pull another stunner this weekend.

Alabama 35
Ole Miss 17

Michigan at 3 Penn State

The Wolverines are having flashbacks of last season when they were embarassed by Appalachain State after their humbling loss to Toledo.  Things don't get much better for them as they travel into visit the Nittany Lions.  Penn State fans have to be glad the old man is still around.  I'd like to see Penn State do well this year just to prove all the naysayers wrong.  I think Michigan fans will continue their barrage against Rich Rodriguez after this week.  The Wolverines won't be able to hang.

Michigan 10
Penn State 42

16 Kansas at 4 Oklahoma

The Big 12 is simply nasty this year.  No longer can the SEC claim to have the dominant conference in the land.  Even teams like Kansas are in the mix!  After the Sooners loss of the top spot, I look for them to come out ready to win against a pretty tough Jayhawks squad.  Bradford's 23-5 TD:INT ratio is just absurd especially in such an amazing conference.  I look for hims to have a huge game and the Sooners will run away with this one.

Kansas 10
Oklahoma 48

With Florida idle this week, there should be plenty of action still in the top 5.  Each team has a tough game to play and I don't expect this week to be any different than any other so far this year.  I think we'll see some upsets at the top.  You have to like the favored teams in these games, though.  I wonder if Bama will get a chance at number 1 if Texas does manage to lose to Mizzou.  Something tells me a strong win by Penn State and we'll see another leapfrog of the Tide in the polls.

What games are you most looking forward to?

So we're heading into week 8 of the college football season and already we've seen 4 changes at the top spot in the polls.  Georgia started out #1 then got leapfrogged by USC.  We all know they couldn't hang with the Beavers which paved the way for Oklahoma.  We all know what happened in the Red River Shootout last weekend.  Now we're heading into the 8th week of the season and Texas is the number 1 team in the land.  The biggest question is, do they deserve it?  We still have 6 teams in the AP Top 25 with unblemished records.  Alabama has made a case for being the number 1 team in the land after wins over an overrated Clemson team and a very good Georgia team on the road in Athens.  Penn State has begun proving its worth in a mediocre Big Ten conference.  Oklahoma State got very little love from the AP after beating a tough Mizzou team.  Then there's the annual x-factor in BYU.  We can't forget Texas Tech either.  While not a traditional powerhouse like some of the others, they do play in that tough-as-nails Big 12 conference.

With all these great teams, who do you think deserves to be the #1 team in the land? 

Personally, as big of a Bama fan as I am, I think Texas deserves the top spot.  The Big 12 is arguably the best conference in college football right now.  They have at least 5 teams that are not just good, but great.  Texas proved themselves by taking down one of the best teams in the country last weekend.  The question is, can they hold on?  They have Mizzou this weekend.  If they do win out, they still have the dreaded conference championship game.  There's a lot of time for them to stumble, but right now, I think they're the best team in the nation.  The matchup with Mizzou will be an interesting one.  How will Daniels and the rest of the team handle that home loss to Oklahoma State?  Being a Heisman contender, you know he's going to be ready to come out and win. 

While I will always be a Crimson Tide fan, I'm not so sure they are ready to be crowned the best team in the nation.  They are very young and have absolutely no depth whatsoever.  They're starting 15 true freshmen and they have problems on special teams specifically the kicking game.  While I've been impressed with them on both sides of the ball, I just wonder how long they can keep it up.  The worst is probably behind them at this point.  LSU will be the toughest game for them from here on out.  They do have to play Ole Miss this weekend and you know Saban isn't counting them out after what happened earlier in Gainesville this year.  The SEC is like the rest of college football; you never know what's going to happen from week to week.  I just hope that after the Big 12 and SEC beat up on themselves we don't see an Ohio State/USC matchup in the BCS title game.  That would probably be a travesty.

So, is Texas the clear-cut number 1 right now?  What do you think?

Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been nearly 2 years since I made an entry here.  Blogging has always been one of those things that I've had more interest in doing than my time would allow.  Hectic work schedules and college both kind of hindered the amount of time I could blog about one of my favorite passions, sports.  Two years later, I'm done with school and finally got my MS degree from Troy University.  My work hours have changed and I'm off every night during the week and have my weekends off (thank God I can watch football again). 

Things have changed in the sports world over the past 2 years as well.  The Braves haven't been a contender in forever, the Bulls went from a contender to the same old organization we're used to since the Jordan era ended, and suddenly Alabama football is relevant again.  While I haven't been blogging about sports, I've still been following it closely.  I'm more excited now for college football than I've been for a long, long time.

Anyways, it's good to be back and I look forward to contributing more of my thoughts to the sports blogging world.

Well, this weekend was full of upsets and boy is the BCS and the NCAA breathing a sigh of relief.  Why you may ask?  Well, it's quite simple really.  A bunch of one loss teams were upset as well as one undefeated (Louisville) which can set up their perfect BCS champion$hip $cenario:  Ohio State/Michigan vs. Notre Dame. 

How does this work out you may ask? Let me explain.  Here are the top five in the BCS as of today:

1. Ohio State

2. Michigan

3. USC

4. Florida

5. Notre Dame

Now, we know that Ohio State or Michigan will lose when they face one another which vacates the number two spot.  Whoever loses that game will more than likely be completely out of the picture.  That means that USC moves up to number two and Florida number three.  But wait a minute...in case you were sleeping Saturday you may not have noticed that the Hogs of Arkansas have clinched the SEC West which means they'll play Florida in the SEC Championship.  And, in case you've been sleeping on them all season, they're a really, really good football team more than capable of beating Florida in a big game.  So, now you're thinking, "okay, Arkansas beats Florida in the SEC Championship, they are a one loss team and SEC Champs. They play in the national championship."  Oh, but this does not happen.  Why? Because Arkansas is ranked seventh in the BCS which means everyone else moves up ahead of them.  Okay then that leaves USC and Notre Dame.  USC will likely lose to Cal, but even if they don't that makes the USC/Notre Dame game that much better. While many think Brady Quinn and the Irish are overrated, they're good enough to beat Army and then USC which means...you guessed it: at the end of the year they move up to number two in the BCS.  Can you say cha-motha-f*****-ching!!!  Suddenly the BCS gets the big $$ in their eyes.  Where does Rutgers fit into all of this?  Well, if they're lucky enough to win out they may get an invite to the Orange Bowl.  Cheers, Scarlet Knight fans.

What does this prove?  Nothing because everyone knows it already: the BCS is a joke.

12/13/2006 - update: Well, we know now that USC was good enough to beat Notre Dame after all but were bad enough to lose to UCLA.  So, now Florida is in and the BCS actually got it right.  Good for them.