3rd Saturday in Blogtober

1) What is the most important thing we learned about the 2010 Alabama Crimson Tide in the wake of the San Jose State game?

We learned that special teams are going to be just fine.  Will it be on par with last season?  Perhaps not.  We still don’t know what our return game is going to look like since SJSU avoided kicking to anyone, but if there is a drop off, it won’t be much.  Cade Foster looked every bit as qualified as his recruiting reports said he would be (and the kid can lay a lick…check out the pipes on that freshman).  Cody Mandell may have shanked one trying to place it out of bounds, but that’s not exactly something we’re not familiar with.  The other two punts were booming kicks over fifty yards and that is new territory.   Coverage also seemed improved, but its not even the standard “it’s just SJSU” caveat.  I have no idea what to expect from the Spartans’ return game to judge it by.

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It’s been a pretty consistent narrative for several years now: BCS teams need to do a better job of scheduling tough out of conference opponents, and as fans, I think we all want to see that. I for one am more excited about Alabama’s matchup with Penn State this weekend than I was the game with San Jose State last weekend. Boise State has certainly been vocal about it’s desire to be in those games and a couple of times the result has been entertaining.

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Alabama released it’s official depth chart and for the most part it’s exactly as you would expect, but a few names stand out.   A couple of comments about it:

• Check out DeQuan Menzie there, listed ahead of BJ Scott.  I would say his recovery has gone better than expected, considering we entered the summer believing he was lost for the season.
• Another surprise is at LB where Jerrell Harris is listed as the starter at WLB and Chavis Williams is listed at SLB.  There have been rumors lately that Williams had been really pushing Harris at SLB and Harris had been working inside a fair bit.  My assumption had been that Chris Jordan had locked down the Will and Harris was just working around because Saban emphasizes the ability to play multiple positions.  I’m curious as to whether this was a case of Williams beating Harris out, or just an effort to get the best four on the field.  Interestingly, Jordan isn’t even listed as second string at Will — a slot shared by Nico Johnson and true freshman CJ Mosley.
• Some of the other contentious battles appear to be settled.  DJ Fluker will start at RT.  Robert Lester won the safety spot opposite Mark Barron, though Will Lowery is listed as the backup at both positions.  Josh Chapman will get the start ahead of Kerry Murphy.  Julio Jones will be the punt returner.
• Something else to note is that this is the depth chart for San Jose State, not for the season.  There may very well be motivational purposes behind some of these decisions, especially at linebacker.  It’s hard to imagine Chris Jordan sliding from probably starter to off the three deep quite that quickly.

UPDATE: Outsidethelines at Roll Bama Roll has some similar takes on the roster, but this comment regarding CJ Moseley’s role on the depth chart stood out to me.

[It] likely means that Chris Jordan has been moved full-time to Mike, which is a nice move for him because that will effectively allow him on the field every time we move Hightower to the edge to use him as a pass rusher.

It’s game week! The Tide will kickoff in less than seven days against the Spartans of San Jose State and it’s time to get serious. To that end, Kleph at The Crimson and White Roundtable has kicked things off again, so make sure you check in over there to see the responses from the other participants.
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This question comes from the always excellent Will Heath at DBH Dance Party.

Through a random sequence of events, you are now in charge of college football. By yourself, with carte blanche to make decisions that will be put into action (and the college presidents will sign up for whatever you’re selling). So what changes will you make? Will you pay players? Institute a playoff? Nuke the University of Tennessee? More…

On this site, I previously wrote [no link as a result of technical difficulties and the general laziness of our technical staff here, which consists of :  me] why I don’t believe the BCS or AP should name Auburn the national champions for 2004.  The short of it is this:  the AP at the time was part of the BCS formula and so naming a champion for them is no different than saying Team X won the  ELO-Chess National Championship that season (and yes, I side with LSU on the matter of who won the 2003 championship); the BCS poll itself does not determine a winner, but merely the participants of a game and the winner of that game is named champion.  If they declare the champion ineligible, then the two options are to not have a champion that season or to replay the game with eligible participants.  As the latter is not possible, there is no winner.  If the BCS were to revise it’s rules in a manner to satisfy Auburn fans — namely, to go by the poll — then Oklahoma is your champion because what most Auburn fans aren’t recognizing here is that the last BCS poll of a season comes out before the championship, not after it and Auburn finished third. More…

#NEWER UPDATE# Mark Schlabach is starting to confirm what many of us were hoping:  Dareus’ ineligibility may not be permanent.  Full quote over at EDSBS, but the gist is that he went to a party at Austin’s prompting (and possibly his expense), and when he got there, he realized what was up and he left.  If so, it’s a 3-4 game suspension for being stupid enough to go, but he gets credit for leaving before a serious violation occurred.  If Schlabach is correct, Dareus will have to pay back the cost of the ticket down there and sit for a bit.

#UPDATE# Marcell Dareus has officially been ruled ineligible. The University is expected to petition to have his eligibility restored.  This is common practice and does not necessarily indicate that Alabama believes they can prove he was not involved.

First, what we know:

• Marcell Dareus was at a party in South Beach hosted by an agent along with at a minimum two other players from various teams around the country.
• The University of Alabama is currently investigating the circumstances surrounding his attendance of the party.
• The NCAA has not asked to speak with Dareus. More…

UT players arrested and questioned in an early morning bar brawl.   Express your shock, dismay and schadenfreude in the comments below.

[UPDATE]: Two arrests so far.  true freshman Da’Rick Rogers, and sophomore Darren Myles, Jr.  Actual charges for Rogers include disorderly conduct and  resisting arrest.  Myles tallies assault (ouch), resisting arrest, and evading arrest.  This would be Myles’ second engagement with the Knoxville police, having previously been arrested for everyone’s favorite “ghost ridin’” which also included resisting arrest.

No discipline has been issued yet (of course) but I can’t imagine Myles with four strikes here (two arrests, being a Kiffin recruit, facing a new coach who has to show things are different than they were when Kiffin was here) has too many more days left to enjoy VIP status as a member of the football team.

As has been speculated for some time, Alabama has moved the game versus Georgia State to the previous night.  Obviously, the sole purpose of this is to provide a little relief of the bye week situation in the only week when Alabama has any control of the situation.  As it stood, Auburn would be the sixth consecutive SEC opponent that Alabama would have faced coming off a bye and certainly the most challenging in that they would do so on a short week.  Popular arguments from the opposition:

• “Georgia State is the same thing as a bye week.”
• “Shut up.  You won a national championship.”
• “Listen to Alabama…already making excuses for losing.”

Whatever your subjective position on this might be, the disparity in days off between games for that particular week just went from 12:5 in Auburns favor to 12:7.   As with all things Saban, this is about the process.  As such, he would much prefer to give the players an extra day off than have to cram six days of preparation into five days of practice, and this grants him that ability.

Now, it also means that the Tide will face the Panthers on only four days rest, while Bill Curry’s legion will have 11 days rest since their last game.  Anyone want to put money on the Panthers in this one?  Me either.

UPDATE – Now the SEC is confirming what we already knew: there will be no other changes to the schedule for this season.

Over at the WWL, Chris Low has been running down his list of the top 25 players in the SEC.  He’s down to his final two, and common sense would dictate that it will be Mark Ingram and AJ Green.  While it is always possible to quibble over who should be ranked where in terms of the total list, we’re going to throw out a few questions just regarding these two.

• Who should be number one between these two?
• If you’re not a fan of Alabama or Georgia, would you rather trade your top running back for Mark Ingram, or your top wide receiver for Green?
• If Alabama and Georgia swapped Ingram for Green, who would come out better in the deal?

As for me, Mark Ingram has to be considered the better player.  If you ever have a running back and wide receiver that are this close in talent, I will pick the running back over the receiver every time.  Why?  A truly phenomenal wide receiver who is the most dominant player on his offense will touch the ball ten or eleven times a game.  Including receptions out of the backfield, a running back will touch the ball as many as 40 times.  There is a reason that in the top ten scorers in SEC history, there are five running backs and zero receivers (the other five are kickers). More…