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SEC college football post-spring power rankings - SEC Blog - ESPN
4. Alabama: Hey, another team searching for a starting quarterback! Jake Coker finally might be the favorite in Tuscaloosa, but he didn't run away with anything, and the youngsters behind him kept pace. Overall, this team lost a lot of key players on both sides, but keep an eye on sophomore receivers ArDarius Stewart and Robert Foster. We still aren't totally certain what things will look like in the secondary this fall, but that front seven, especially the defensive line, is incredibly athletic.
Coming out of the spring ESPN has Alabama ranked #4 in the SEC. For the first time in recent memory, expectations are going to be manageable for the team. They are certainly talented enough to win them all if everything comes together, it's just that no one expects them to. Maybe playing something of an underdog role will provide extra motivation for a bunch of guys who aren't accustomed to such things.
The 2015 NFL Draft's 25 most productive college football teams, ranked - SBNation.com
Draftpoints assign a points value for each spot in the NFL Draft, with the first pick being worth 250 points, the second 249, the third 248, and on down. Most drafts are about 250 picks and change, so it's a tidy number. We'll count picks beyond 250 as one point each, since that's simple.
By this metric the Tide was #6 in the 2015 draft, which sounds about right.
Bowl projections for 2015 college football season
Each of the first bowl projections for 2015 have the same three teams playing in the College Football Playoff semifinals in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and Capital One Orange Bowl: defending national champion Ohio State, TCU and Auburn. The fourth teams were different with Brett McMurphy choosing USC to win the Pac-12 title and Mark Schlabach choosing Oregon.
One has Alabama in the Sugar, the other in the Peach. For the life of me I can't understand the national love affair with Auburn right now. They return only four starters on offense, which was the strength of the team last season. Eight starters return on defense, but considering they gave up 400 yards and 30 points a game in conference play I'm not sure that's a good thing. Will Muschamp can certainly coach some defense and Carl Lawson should make an impact, but I'm not seeing a national title contender here.
Top-10 future NFL Draft picks on Alabama's current roster
The 2015 NFL Draft concluded less than 48 hours ago, but mock drafts for next year’s event started popping up all across the Internet hours after the draft ended in Chicago. So, why not join in on the fun? Below, BamaOnLine ranks the top-10 future draft picks on Alabama’s current roster
Cameron Robinson headlines a strong list of returning NFL caliber talent, particularly on the defensive side of the football. Hopefully they come out salty after hearing all offseason about Ohio State running over them.
'Game of the Century' produces 45 NFL draftees - SEC Blog - ESPN
CBSSports.com reported that 45 total players from that 2011 meeting between the SEC foes have been drafted. Of the 22 defensive players who started that game for Alabama and LSU, a whopping 16 were drafted. Nine players from the teams were first-round picks. See a full breakdown of the numbers here.
Staggering numbers here. Remember when other conferences were complaining that the 9-6 outcome was caused more by incompetent offenses than elite defenses? We now know that 70% of the players on the two defenses would become NFL draftees. Just incredible.
LOOK: Ole Miss beating Alabama will result in one more human being - CBSSports.com
Ole Miss fan Heather Callihan announced her pregnancy to friends and family in an interesting way. She posted a photo of herself while holding two signs. One said "23-17" while the other said, "This is what happens when Ole Miss beats Bama."
Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. No word on whether rubber sheets and gerbils were utilized during the conception.
Time to put an end to conference divisions in college football - Orlando Sentinel
Why have the hassle of divisions when you can just pick your two best teams to face off in your league title game? It puts extra value on your conference games and removes the distraction of cross-divisional match-ups that create headaches for athletic directors and coaches. You can keep those traditional rivalries alive, but just rotate other teams into the mix. Plus, it’s a way a four-year player gets the opportunity to play each team in his conference at least once while providing fans a chance to see different foes more than every five years or so.
Interesting points here. Eliminating divisions would accomplish several things: 1) No more goofy geographic nonsense like Mizzou playing in the East. 2) Easier to maintain traditional rivalries while not forcing them in places where they don't make sense. 3) Ability to see more teams more frequently. 4) More competitive championship games. On the surface, I like it. On the downside, some less traditional rivalries such as Alabama-LSU would no longer be played every season and the schedule rotation might increase the odds that a team could skate to the title game by missing the top four or five teams in the conference. Perhaps we should have a poll...
College football championship game attracts Minnesota bid | The State The State
Minnesota isn't being bashful about plugging its new — and still-incomplete — professional football stadium as the site for the biggest events in sports. State officials and civic boosters planned Tuesday to announce a bid for the College Football Playoff National Championship.
Good luck with that, Minnesota. Asking for a January playoff game in the coldest of the contiguous 48 seems like a tough sell.
Altee Tenpenny announces transfer destination after leaving Alabama | AL.com
A few months after leaving Alabama, former Crimson Tide running back Altee Tenpenny has a new home. Using his Instagram account, Tenpenny announced he was transferring to UNLV.
Good luck to Altee as he follows in former teammate Dee Hart's footsteps in taking a stab at the Mountain West Conference. There are worse places to hang out for a couple of years than Las Vegas.
The two-time defending national champion Alabama men's golf team earned the No. 4 seed in the 2015 NCAA Men's Golf Regional held in Noblesville, Ind., it was announced on Monday morning. The three-day 54-hole regional will be held Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16, and will be hosted by Ball State University on the Jack Nicklaus-designed par 72, 7,173-yard Sagamore Club golf course in Noblesville, Ind.
Any Alabama team entering the NCAA tournament in search of its third consecutive national title deserves our attention. They aren't the favorites this time, but anything can happen. Roll Tide, men.
Tuesday's doubleheader will be Alabama's third scheduled double-dip and eighth overall, with the other five coming thanks to inclement weather. In its first scheduled doubleheader of the season, Alabama finished off Savannah State on Feb. 24. The Tide took down the Tigers by a score of 7-2 in the first game, and then claimed a 4-2 victory in the cap. Most recently, Mississippi Valley State came to The Met for a pair of games with the Crimson Tide claiming 3-1 and 16-5 victories in games one and two, respectively.
Coming off a sweep at the hands of Arkansas, the Tide is now resigned to playing out the string in a disappointing season.