Crimson Tide Football and Other Alabama Sports Musings

It’s Homecoming and a great time to be in Tuscaloosa, as the weather looks a bit better this weekend for the 6 p.m. kickoff against the Kentucky Wildcats.   So what can we expect this week from The Tide? First, a quick aside or two on the team. I’m happy this week about the return of Tony Brown. We can use this speedster in the secondary where we’ve been burned a few times. Even Calvin Ridley says Tony is faster. He’s also revered by his teammates for his special teams play. As a junior with a couple dozen games under his belt he can bring some stability to the defensive backfield and perhaps shore up the weakness I see in Averette, who gets picked on a lot. And my second best feeling comes from seeing running back Joshua Jacobs’ coming out party last weekend. I see now why he averaged over 245 yards a game in high school and ran for 2700 in a season in Oklahoma. We should note that this true freshman earned his playing time OVER BJ Emmons, who was the top-ranked back in

This will be a week for Coach Saban and his team to work on some fundamentals that will be critical before the Tide begins a brutal four-game stretch at Arkansas on October 8. If the Tide expects to reach the playoff again, improvements are required despite a couple of good wins. The Tide needs to make corrections right now, then get through next week against SEC challenger Kentucky with proof it can avoid as many mistakes. The next week the Tide goes on the road where those mistakes could be fatal. After going to play the improving Hogs, the Tide travels to play a very talented Tennessee team, then hosts Texas A&M, and again goes on the road to LSU. If the mistakes of the past two weeks continue, I predict at least one loss and perhaps two in that stretch of four games. Bama also needs some healing after several players left the Ole Miss game hobbled by knee and foot injuries or wobbly from knocks on the head and dehydration.  To be corrected based on the season so far,

When the 19 th ranked Ole Miss Rebels and #1 Crimson Tide line up Saturday at 2:30 in Oxford, there will be more than a few of us holding our breath. For Bama fans, it may not be so much fear of Chad Kelly’s arm paired with a group of good receivers or the stout Rebel defensive line as much as it is the simple fact that Ole Miss brings its swagger against the Tide and has for many years—not just the past two when they turned a flurry of turnovers into back-to-back wins over championship caliber Crimson and White teams. Many folks will be talking about a mad Tide and revenge. In my view, revenge is a rarely effective motivation. Focus on a lofty goal of championships is the mindset needed, by winning one game at a time against whatever opponent the powers that be have scheduled. For Bama’s sake I hope that is how they approach this game. Ole Miss won the last games, and two years ago they came out and took it. So let them have those wins as great memories for their program and

With the game looming tomorrow and my schedule full, I can only give my quick overview this week. Let me start with the outcome. With Ole Miss one week away, a game most of us circled a year ago on the calendar, I expect to see lots of players in this game and starters coming out as early as possible. Let's hope the team takes this game seriously and puts the game on ice early. Pair that with a Hilltopper team much deeper than most mid-majors (they get lots of  talented transfers from places like UAB and Louisville), I see the Alabama team scoring declining toward the end of the game and not producing as much of a blowout as some would expect from last week's piece by piece dismantling of USC. The Hilltoppers finished 12-2 last year and won a bowl game, so perhaps the game will be interesting and fun to watch. No one on either team expects Bama to lose, but this team will come in with confidence and determination to make a great showing. I do expect to see Jalen Hurt star

Philip’s Forecasts 2015 : Alabama vs. Wisconsin: 41-10 prediction/35-17 actual (covered spread as I thought) Alabama vs. MTSU: 49-13 prediction/37-10 actual (didn’t cover, as I thought) Alabama vs. Ole Miss: 31-28 prediction/37-42 actual (I certainly didn’t see 17 points on turnovers inside the 25 and a helmet skip pass) Alabama vs. ULM: 48-7 prediction/34-0 Alabama vs. GA –predicted a win by 7 or more but no time for analysis. Actual: 28 spread (38-10) Alabama vs. Arkansas: 35-17 prediction/24-14 actual (lost ATS on the late pass) Alabama vs. TA&M: 31-28 prediction/41-23 actual (Pete was better at 34-24 prediction…and based on his numbers I placed and won a bet J ) Alabama vs. Tennessee: 37-20 prediction/19-14 actual (missed this one for sure) Alabama vs. LSU: 27-20 prediction/ 30-16 actual

The 2016 University of Alabama football squad gives me every reason for high expectations. This first analysis of the season will include a bit more than my normal game comparisons, as there is so much to talk about with this team. I believe this defense has talent rarely seen on one team and is the most balanced from the D-line to linebackers to secondary since the National Champion 1992 team, despite the need to replace several NFL-caliber players. And the offense has the talent to provide true balance and do their part. While the front seven may not be a deep as last year, they are every bit as talented through the first four or five and return perhaps the best defensive lineman in the nation in All-SEC Jonathan Allen. While Allen may be technically the lone returning starter, it doesn’t feel that way when you look at the play of returners that include freshman All-American Da’Ron Payne (who actually started three games near the season end), Dalvin Tomlinson and Da’Shawn Robi

The Tide and Trojans will suit up on September 3, 2016 for the eighth time. Bama holds a 5-2 all-time edge, including a 24-3 win in the last outing in 1985. This year, Southern Cal will be led by Coach Clay Helton, who took over mid-year as interim and finished with an 8-6 record before being named head coach. In his first year as head coach, Helton will face off with Coach Nick Saban, who many believe may be the best football coach of all time, coming off a hard-fought national championship win in his last game. If history is an indicator, Bama will win, though it may take three quarter to create separation. In the past four years Alabama has played openers against highly respected teams Michigan, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin, winning by an average of 36-16. Add those two scores together and you get within one point of where the oddsmakers called the over/under, at 53, so the pattern is there. But, that said, this is a new year with two teams each replacing 11 or

Welcome to Crimson Tide Musings. This blog will contain the game-by-game analysis by Philip Shirley regarding Alabama football, and perhaps other Tide sports from time to time. Enjoy, argue, post comments, disagree, agree, but have fun.