Tuscaloosa Tragedy
Nick Saban and the Tide survive again, setting up a CFB Saturday with epic consequences
Depending on which side you are on it as either triumph or tragedy in Tuscaloosa last Saturday. Alabama, playing with their backup QB, overcame four turnovers; two missed field goals; and a pass interference penalty in the end zone that nullified an interception and gave Texas A&M one final play.
Alabama survived yet again to beat the Aggies 24-20. In an alternate universe, ‘Bama is 4-2 and all but eliminated from the SEC and national championship race.
And it was all because Texas could not finish the job in Austin and A&M ran the worse play imaginable from the three yard line with an opportunity to win it and erase all memory of Appalachian State. Everyone on Twitter critiqued it, including:
But Coach Saban knew exactly what Jimbo Fisher wanted to run on a two-point conversion type play at the end, and Alabama DB Terrion Arnold heard coach Fisher shouting out the receiver’s name he was calling the play for.
There did seem to be a clock management error where there were only three seconds left for the final play instead of six. Perhaps another play could have been run?
But in the end, Alabama proved why they are a championship team and Texas A&M is not.
‘Bama found a way to win.
No Huddle Recap
Speaking of finding a way to win, it all started Friday night with some of the weekend’s most exhilarating games. Nebraska came back for a one-point win vs Rutgers and winless Colorado State beat Nevada (ton of bad blood between the coaches with the CSU coach besting his former club) using two defensive TDs and a FG; but in between was what happened down in Houston.
The Cougars went down 32-19 at Memphis with four minutes left. They converted a fourth and 11 and fourth and nine in phenomenal fashion to score a touchdown. Then they recovered a textbook onside kick and score again to win 33-32.
There were close contests (Oklahoma State survived Texas Tech and Florida State threw a pick in the closing seconds to one to NC State) and wild finishes (Georgia Tech beat Duke in OT; Purdue stopped a Maryland two-point try and Oregon State beat Stanford on a final Hail Mary like play) on Saturday as well, but none was better than what happen in Lawrence, Kansas.
The Horned Frogs and Jayhawks went back and forth with absolute dimes of TD tosses, with each one being better than the last. In the end, TCU came out on top with a 38-31 win and potentially staked their claim as the Big 12’s best.
Looking Ahead
This sets up an incredible Saturday of CFB; look at this smorgasbord of games:
Wow! Let me predict Penn State; Tennessee; Oklahoma State; NC State and USC this week.
We also have:
Clemson vs Florida State
Iowa State vs Texas
Kansas vs Oklahoma (really just to find out if the Sooners are really this bad)
Minnesota vs Illinois
Miami (FL) vs VA Tech
Arkansas vs BYU
LSU vs Florida
Mississippi State vs Kentucky
UNC vs Duke
The games highlighted in the tweet are imperative for potentially tipping the scales of fate for the Playoff that has been considered an invitational for the SEC and Clemson and Ohio State for so many years. The Renaissance of the Pac-12 has already added so much more intrigue and drama to trying to determine the four best teams.
All eyes will be on Knoxville to see if the Volunteers are for real for real. They haven’t been able to smoke a cigar in 15 years!
If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. The Vols will have the opportunity to do just that if they can beat Alabama and Georgia in route to an SEC title. In that case they may just be the Playoff favorite.
Or, Tennessee could beat Alabama, lose to Georgia and then have Alabama beat the Bulldogs in the SEC title game leaving all three teams with just one loss.
In addition, the Big Ten East could wind up with a three way tie if Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State all take turns beating up on each other. It has been the lone bright spot in a conference that has been a rolling dumpster fire since the season’s start.
Exhibit A was in Champaign, IL, last Saturday where the Illini pulled off a 9-6 victory over Iowa. The Hawkeyes rank dead last in nearly every offensive category this season.
Exhibit B was in Piscataway, NJ, last Friday where Nebraska somehow found a way to beat Rutgers and still fumbled on their game-winning kneel down. They lead the West.
And we expect to find out who is the best in the Pac-12 and Big 12; however, the ACC will unfortunately not give us the rematch that we all deserve between Clemson and Wake Forest due to divisions. The Big Ten’s divisions also make it so that whoever wins the West will be like a lamb to slaughter against the Buckeyes.
There are new teams (TCU, Oklahoma State, UCLA, USC, Tenn, Ole Miss and Penn State) out there ripe for a Playoff berth. The only question is, can they get the job done?
Almost Heaven
West Virginia.
But the trip to the Blue Ridge mountains has been more like Hell for the Baylor Bears (football or basketball really).
The football team has never won in Morgantown and it doesn’t matter the circumstances. Four different coaches—Art Briles, Jim Grobe, Matt Rhule and Dave Aranda— have always found themselves on the wrong side:
2012: L 63-70 - Geno Smith ‘Heisman’ Game
2014: L 27-41 - Letdown game after 61-58; cost spot in CFP
2016: L 21-24 - Season finale in snow; caps six game losing streak
2018: L 14-58 - Thursday night beat down; Charlie Brewer concussion game
2020: L 21-27 (2OT) - Team Covid outbreak during travel afterwards
From Aranda’s words, the ‘immature’ Bears take on the Mountaineers tonight at 6 p.m. in a must win game to turn their season around.
Love this. What a weekend for CFB!