Jumbo Package: LANKy Jalen Milroe wins SEC honor, Texas band to sit in the cheap seats

Happy Tuesday, everyone. We learned yesterday that Greg Byrne does petty, and does it well.

Texas isn’t in the SEC just yet, which means the SEC’s regulation for tickets for visitors doesn’t apply for the Alabama football matchup vs. the Longhorns this week at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

So, the Crimson Tide doesn’t have to meet the SEC requirement of at least 2,000 visiting tickets located in the lower level of the stadium. And Alabama won’t. All 5,000 visitor tickets, which include seats for the band, will be in the upper deck.

“We are able to reciprocate a similar seating arrangement to what we had last year in Austin,” Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne told The Tuscaloosa News.

This is hilarious, and well deserved.

Saban had his typical Monday press conference, and most notably gave a non-update on Malachi Moore and Jaylen Key.

Alabama football’s defensive back group suffered some injuries on Saturday when Malachi Moore and Jaylen Key went out of the game. On Monday, Nick Saban said both players were day-to-day in the week leading up to Alabama’s matchup with Texas.

“It’s probably too early to tell what their circumstance will be,” Saban said. “Probably be a couple of days and we’ll figure it out, but I don’t think either guy has long-term issues. But it’ll be interesting to see how they progress this week.”

—Saban said the team “executed well” against MTSU. He congratulated Milroe and Caleb Downs for being recognized by the conference in its player of the week awards.

—”I think everybody knows Sark is a really good coach,” Saban said about his former assistant before complimenting Texas’ depth. He called WR James Worthy “outstanding.”

—“(Texas) is a really good team all the way around,” Saban said, referring to Week 2 as a quasi-benchmark game, “... Where are we as a team?”

You can check out all of Saban’s comments below.

Jalen Milroe was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week, and Caleb Downs Co-Freshman of the Week.

The sophomore quarterback accounted for 258 yards of total offense in three quarters of action in a 56-7 win over Middle Tennessee.

Accounted for five total touchdowns with three passing and two rushing .

Posted the ninth best passing efficiency number in the nation in week 1 with a 217.8 rating.

Completed 13-of-18 passes for 194 yards and three touchdowns.

Connected on scoring strikes of 47, 48 and 29 yards while averaging 10.8 yards per attempt.

Rushed for 48 yards and two scores on the ground on seven carries averaging 6.9 yards per rush.

Matt Stahl graded the Tide after MTSU, and the marks were all positive.

Tight ends: A

This was a much-improved performance from last season and Nick Saban knew it. He said the group is better than the Tide have had in the past few years.

Amari Niblack was a major player in the passing game, grabbing a touchdown catch and the rest of the tight ends were a huge help in run blocking. If that continues throughout the season, it will be extremely helpful, especially given that the Tide don’t yet have a clear top receiver.

Milroe revealed a new rallying cry that the players created.

No, the Crimson Tide isn’t calling anyone a loser like a schoolboy. Instead, they’re signaling to each other and rallying around a team acronym: “LANK.”

“Let A Naysayer Know. I think it was something we built throughout the offseason,” quarterback Jalen Milroe said. “We came as one unit to try of think of something, a motto, that’ll push our team. There’s a lot of doubt that took place throughout the offseason and a lot of things took place. That was one thing.”

Whatever it takes, I guess? Many already know this, but Milroe is the center of an interesting storyline this week. The Katy, TX product was initially committed to Texas, and flipped to Alabama four days after “perfect” rated Quinn Ewers committed to the Longhorns. Ewers subsequently flipped to Ohio State, went there for a year and then transferred back to Texas. He may not admit it, but Jalen wouldn’t be human if he didn’t have some desire to prove a point.

Last, Clemson lost to Duke 28-7 last night.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The box score certainly suggests a much closer game than the scoreboard, but this is the height of delusion.

Nice cherry picking, Dabo. The fact is that your offense gained a relatively paltry 5.1 yards per play while your defense allowed 5.7, and your only points came after Duke muffed a punt.

Anybody still pining for Dabo to replace Saban? Hello, is this thing on?

That’s about it for now. Have a great day.

Roll Tide.