The trio of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Heather Cox will be at Cowboys Stadium to call Alabama-Wisconsin on September 5. (They will then fly to Blacksburg to call Ohio State at Virginia Tech on September 7.)

Points for creativity, and also for finding a functional telephone in Starkville. Demerits for the rest.

An interesting analysis by Matt Hinton suggests that Alabama lacks creative scoring (which, okay: 'Bama didn't have any special teams return TDs in 2014 after notching four in 2013), something that props up champions from time to time, and a "first-term coach," something that he notes every national champion this century other than Texas in 2005 has had.

Four first-teamers ties Ole Miss for the most in the conference, and only Alabama has one on offense, defense, and special teams.

Eddie Lacy. Powerful running back, not so powerful lumberjack. The Packers running back, with the help of Gatorade, tried his hand at ax-throwing, tree-climbing, and wood-chopping. The results were mixed. As you can imagine his powerful arm strength dominated the ax-throwing portion, but trying to get that running back body up a tree proved to be more than difficult. - See more at: http://athlonsports.com/overtime/eddie-lacy-lumberjack-gatorade-green-bay-packers-tree-climbing-ax-wood#sthash.nOXyMkuo.dpuf

That's one takeaway from Bill C.'s research on pass-catchers who combine both high catch rates and good yards-per-catch numbers, though Howard's on the extreme low end of players listed in terms of targets.

Too much? Too little? About right?

While it's not totally unusual for programs to do this — and this request is apparently tied to injuries — you can bet that some folks will have harsh words for Nick Saban as a result.

That EA Sports marketing budget is substantial, y'all. For what it's worth, Jones gets the best scene of the five-minute "film," and Trick Montalban is up there with Lil' Pepper for best fake name for a real person.

Friend of the network Holly Anderson is the scribe behind this counterfactual escapade, which ends with: "The morning of the national championship game, Gus Malzahn is announced as the new head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide." But her plot would've required Nick Saban following Steve Spurrier's path to Dan Snyder's checkbook, and, well, that probably wasn't going to happen.

The really terrifying idea herein? The prospect of Bobby Petrino replacing Tommy Tuberville at Auburn in 2003, then still leaving for the NFL in 2006, allowing Saban to end up on the plains. Yiiiikes.