Jumbo Package: Gump Day!

“The committee still considered the way they’ve been playing offensively, defensively, [No. 12] Mississippi, [No. 25] Mississippi State wins,” he said. “And we didn’t learn a lot new about Alabama, but they stayed at No. 2.

“There was good conversation about where Alabama, Oregon and Ohio State should be placed.”

The top seven teams in last week’s rankings kept the same order after all seven won last week, including the top five by at least two touchdowns.

There was significantly less drama around the CFP rankings this week as nothing really happened with the top group. There’s still some wailing and gnashing of teeth about Cincinnati, but folks seem to be starting to notice that they’re just barely surviving what is essentially a cupcake schedule that any P5 team would be getting blasted for.

“I feel like since the season has been going on, we start shifting our mindset,” he said. “Like, we’re a championship team — we have to go out there and do championship things and all come together and all be on the same page. Everybody’s mindset and mentality has been the same.

“I think we’ve come to a common goal, like, OK, we want to be a championship team. You have to do what champions do.”

He might only be a sophomore but when Anderson speaks, his teammates have reason to listen.

The main driving force behind what’s keeping Alabama at #2 has been the insurgence of the Alabama defense led by Will Anderson. Anderson’s passion with his team is the stuff that will go into Alabama lore if the Tide goes on to win it all this season.

As Williams joins McClellan and Wheaton on the shelf, Sanders is poised to become the No. 2 tailback behind Robinson for the final stretch of the Crimson Tide’s regular-season schedule.

“He’s just been showing focus,” Robinson said. “Just going out to the practice field and wanting to get all the little things right. He gets upset sometimes when he makes a mistake, but it just shows that he always wants to do things the right way. The coaches just build more confidence in him just to see how much he wants to go out and play the game the right way.”

Sanders has obviously been through a lot. And while no one can hold it against him that he hasn’t been able to break into the rotation yet, it’s also been a bit disappointing that he hasn’t.

Now’s his chance, though. With everyone else injured, Sanders is the only relief for Brian Robinson left. How cool would it be for him to break out in the final few games and into the post season?

Virginia Tech became the latest Power 5 program to fire its football coach, and that move could have a domino effect in the SEC.

Bill O’Brien, Alabama’s first-year offensive coordinator, was mentioned by FootballScoop as a possible candidate to replace Justin Fuente.

Among the other possibilities mentioned were Louisiana’s Billy Napier, Liberty’s Hugh Freeze, Coastal Carolina’s Jamey Chadwell, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman and East Carolina’s Mike Houston.

Virginia Tech is a solid program that could be a very, very attractive project for a coach wanting to rebuild a place with a lot of history to get them out of their recent slump. Bill O’Brien is already getting some mention as a guy who already has ties to that area of the country from his time as a head coach at Penn State.

Whether or not O’Brien is even looking for another college head coaching job is a question, but it’s definitely not a fit to discount.