Okay, Doubters, Bama IS No. 1
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| Alabama head coach Nick Saban Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The 2016 Edition of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team has been ranked number one in the country country all season. Some of the poll numbers have changed during that time, with Ohio State and others making some inroads the last few weeks. So-called sports experts have debated the case for other teams, especially their darling Buckeyes being the best team in college football.
Despite the numbers put out by Alabama true freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts, even those with an "Alabama-lean" have called into question his decision-making when it comes down to crunch-time, like in a pressure-cooker type game like was played in Knoxville, Tennessee yesterday. Think that should be settled now.
The defensive secondary for the Crimson Tide had been a bit suspect this season, having given up four hundred plus yards in two games this season, and the talk was that Tennessee was going to exploit that weakness. Of course, that never came yesterday. The Vols came into Saturday's contest averaging 448 yards per game on offense. The Tide held them to just 163 yards of total offense.
Tennessee is not as bad a football team as Alabama made them look yesterday. Alabama is just that good. The Vols have two wins over Top-20 teams (Florida and Virginia Tech), and their only loss of the season prior to the "Annihilation At Neyland" yesterday was a double-overtime affair on the road against a Top-10 team in the Southeastern Conference (Texas A&M), the toughest conference in all of college football. This was no slouch that Alabama decimated yesterday in their house, in front of their screaming fans by a score of 49-10.
The Crimson Tide not only did what they had to do yesterday, they pretty much did what they wanted to do. As much as we Alabama fans enjoyed that game, have basked in the whoopin' giving the Vols after their taunts and claims, can you possibly fathom the exhilaration and pride felt by Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin? Going back to a school that hates him, though he was one of their best, if not the best, coaches in recent years to walk the Tennessee sidelines, and then dismantling their once-proud program had to be something of immense pleasure to him when the last second ticked off the clock.
Running back Damien Harris again stated his case as being the next great Bama back, gaining 94 yards on 14 carries averaging 6.7 yards a run. Had he not split carries with Bo Scarbrough, who topped 100 yards himself, he would have eclipsed the century mark. An 85-yard touchdown run helped Scarbrough go over the 100-yard mark for the first time this season.
Jalen Hurts. My, oh my, what a special youngster. With very little effort, it seems, he moved the Crimson Tide up and down the field. He completed 16 of 26 passes as well as picking up 132 rushing yards. Oh, and he scored three touchdowns on the ground himself. And he'll be here awhile.
Oh, there's still a lot of football to played this season. So the debate will resurface. But for now, most would have to agree that the Alabama Crimson Tide yesterday showed the rest of the nation that they are, indeed, the best team in the country.
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Annihilation At Neyland
Tide Destroys Vols 49-10
Annihilation At Neyland
Tide Destroys Vols 49-10
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team totally dismantled and decimated a Top-25 team yesterday. Not just any team, either. An SEC team. An SEC rival. A hated rival. An extremely heated rival.
In their own house.
It wasn't a pretty sight for the Tennessee faithful. Especially when they had once again deluded into thinking they "had" this game. Hopes crushed, many began leaving the game very early when they saw there would be no miracle at Neyland Stadium that day. Doomsday had come. The Apocalypse was here. An old-fashioned butt-whoopin' was being applied behind the woodshed, the late-great Paul "Bear" Bryant was fond of saying.
In their own house.
It wasn't a pretty sight for the Tennessee faithful. Especially when they had once again deluded into thinking they "had" this game. Hopes crushed, many began leaving the game very early when they saw there would be no miracle at Neyland Stadium that day. Doomsday had come. The Apocalypse was here. An old-fashioned butt-whoopin' was being applied behind the woodshed, the late-great Paul "Bear" Bryant was fond of saying.
No miracles. No rabbit out of the hat. No sleight of hand.
Just Alabama football showing the University of Tennessee football team not to count its chickens before they hatch.
Enough cliche's?
Well, we've heard enough of them from Tennessee the past several years now. "This is our year," or "This is a new beginning," or "We've got this one this year," or "Have you Hurd how our offense is going to expose your defense?"
In the end, it was the same. Or was it? Last year in Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa was close. This one wasn't. It really wasn't even close just prior to the opening kickoff. You could look at the Alabama football players, and offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, and see that this one was going to be one of those heavyweight bouts you paid big bucks to see but the knockout occurred in the first round.
The No. 1 ranked University of Alabama Crimson Tide horse-whipped the No. 9/11 Volunteers of Tenness in their own house in Knoxville this afternoon 49-10. This was the worst loss for the Vols in the series in the 110-years since the first game was played back in 1906, 51-0. This was also the largest regular season win for the Tide over an Associated Press Top-10 team.
Freshman Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts may not have been perfect on the day, but he sure made up for any fumble or misreads. The youngster is dangerous. The youngster is phenomenal. In fact, the youngster is going to be one of the best quarterbacks to play the position at UA if he can stay healthy.
Alabama used a powerful running game, passing game, special teams play and defense to leave Tennessee in shambles...and the Vol fans in shock.
This is the Crimson Tide's 19th consecutive victory, dating back to last season, and was Bama's 10th consecutive win over the Volunteers. It was a game showcasing every facet of the football team, from coaching & play-calling right on down to execution. Alabama improves to 7-0 overall, 4-0 SEC while the Volunteers, losing their 13th consecutive game to an SEC Western Division school, falls to 5-2 overall, 2-2 SEC.
With his 58-yard pick six today, Ronnie Harrison became the seventh Alabama defensive player to score a touchdown this season. Eddie Jackson also returned a punt on special teams for a 79-yard score. That's now 11 non-offensive scores for the Tide this season, eight of which came by way of defense.
What an offensive display. Two Crimson Tide backs had 100 rushing yards, quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Bo Scarbrough. Damien Harris got oh-so-close with 94 yards on 14 carries. The offense put up a total of 438 rushing yards against the Vols, the most since 1986 when Bama racked up 451 yards against, you guessed it, Tennessee.
| Game Stats | UA | UT |
|---|---|---|
| Total Yards | 594 | 163 |
| Pass Yards | 156 | 131 |
| Rushing Yards | 438 | 32 |
| Penalty Yards | 5-38 | 1-10 |
| 1st Downs | 28 | 11 |
| 3rd Downs | 6-12 | 3-16 |
| 4th Downs | 0-1 | 0-1 |
| TOP | 31:33 | 28:27 |
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
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Crimson Tide Again No. 1 In Amway Coaches Poll
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Crimson Tide Again No. 1 In Amway Coaches Poll
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide is once again the No. 1 ranked team in the country according to Week 8 of the Amway Coaches Poll. Alabama picked up 61 of 64 first place votes. Ohio State is second with 2 first place votes and Clemson is third with one first place vote. Rounding out the Top 5 is Michigan in fourth followed by Washington in sixth. All teams have a perfect 6-0 record. The highest ranked one loss team is Louisville at seventh place and a record of 5-1.
Eight teams from the Southeastern Conference made this week's Top 25, with only two making the Top 10. Alabama (1), Texas A&M (6), Florida (12), Arkansas (17), Tennessee (19), Ole Miss (22), LSU (23) and Auburn (24) are the teams representing the SEC this week.
There were no changes in this week's Top 10, but three schools dropped out of this week's rankings. Those dropping out were Miami, Virginia Tech and Arizona State.
TOP 25 TEAMS
WEEK 8
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | 1st Place Votes | Prev | CHANGE | Hi/Low |
| 1 | Alabama | 7-0 | 1597 | 61 | 1 | 0 | 1/1 |
| 2 | Ohio State | 6-0 | 1524 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2/5 |
| 3 | Clemson | 7-0 | 1432 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2/3 |
| 4 | Michigan | 6-0 | 1413 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4/8 |
| 5 | Washington | 6-0 | 1366 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5/18 |
| 6 | Texas A&M | 6-0 | 1287 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6/NR |
| 7 | Louisville | 5-1 | 1207 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 4/23 |
| 8 | Baylor | 6-0 | 1130 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8/21 |
| 9 | Nebraska | 6-0 | 1114 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 9/NR |
| 10 | Wisconsin | 4-2 | 874 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 8/NR |
| 11 | Houston | 6-1 | 841 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 5/13 |
| 12 | Florida | 5-1 | 830 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 14/25 |
| 13 | West Virginia | 5-0 | 781 | 0 | 18 | 5 | 18/NR |
| 14 | Boise State | 6-0 | 772 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 15/NR |
| 15 | Florida State | 5-2 | 709 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 2/21 |
| 16 | Oklahoma | 4-2 | 600 | 0 | 20 | 4 | 3/NR |
| 17 | Arkansas | 5-2 | 570 | 0 | 22 | 5 | 17/NR |
| 18 | Utah | 6-1 | 538 | 0 | 21 | 3 | 18/NR |
| 19 | Tennessee | 5-2 | 457 | 0 | 11 | -8 | 9/15 |
| 20 | Western Michigan | 7-0 | 317 | 0 | 23 | 3 | 23/NR |
| 21 | North Carolina | 5-2 | 250 | 0 | 30 | 9 | 16/NR |
| 22 | Mississippi | 3-3 | 182 | 0 | 13 | -9 | 12/21 |
| 23 | Louisiana State | 4-2 | 176 | 0 | 25 | 2 | 6/NR |
| 24 | Auburn | 4-2 | 156 | 0 | 26 | 2 | – |
| 25 | Navy | 4-1 | 133 | 0 | 28 | 3 | – |
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Alabama Women's Golf Tied For Lead
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
For The Crimson Tide individually, sophomore Lauren Stephenson is in second place at six-under par after a two-under round yesterday (68-70/138). Sophomore Cheyenne Knight (70-71/141) and freshman Kristen Gillman (71-70/141) are tied for fifth place sitting at three-under par. Seniors Cammie Gray (76-75/151) and Mia Landegren (79-73/152) are tied for 54th and 60th, respectively after yesterday's round.
Today's final round begins at 8:15 a.m. CT. Alabama will be grouped with Wake Forest and Ohio State.
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Notebooking Nick Saban's Road Record & More
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Following yesterday's Crimson Tide 49-10 win over the Tennessee Vols, Alabama head coach Nick Saban sports a 63-29-1 (.683) record in road games which includes all four of his head coaching jobs. At Alabama, the record now stands at 35-6 (.854). Saban has five perfect road seasons on his personal sltate with Alabama, with those coming in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015. He has been hugely successful, losing only more than one road contest in two seasons, with those being in 2007 (his first season at the Capstone) and 2010. Since 2011, the Crimson Tide has won 22 of its last 24 road games and is currently enjoying a nine-game road win streak.
Saban now owns a 99-26 (.792) career record in 125 football games against Southeastern Conference opponents. Since his arrival at the Capstone, Saban is 69-13 (.841) against conference opponents. He is the author of 3,276 total points scored versus just 1,283 for opponents.
Since yesterday's victory over Tennessee, Saban is now second in SEC history in all-time winning percentage at .820 with a 155-34 record. Bama's head man is now eighth on the all-time career win list, with General Robert Neyland coming in at seventh with 173 wins.
Against Associated Press Top 25 teams, Saban has now passed Alabama legend Paul "Bear" Bryant for third place with yesterday's victory. He notched victory number 67 with the 49-10 shellacking of the Volunteers. Penn State's Joe Paterno is first with 86 wins, followed by Florida State's Bobby Bowden with 82. Rounding out the top five coaches is Steve Spurrier with 64.
In the games against AP Top 10 victories category, Saban is 22-6 (.786). His winning percentage is third all-time, falling behind only Notre Dame's Frank Leahy at .886 and USC's Pete Carroll at .813 among coaches with a minimum of 15 Top 10 games.
