With all the hype surrounding next week's SEC title game, I thought I'd offer my reasons why Alabama is going to defeat Florida.
It's big, there's no denying that. The biggest Conference championship game since before 2003 (that's how far back ESPN.com goes, and I don't feel like going any farther) features 1 vs. 2/3 (depending on the polls). Tim Tebow's last SEC football game. The Alabama-Florida game, televised live at 4 eastern on CBS Saturday, is a match of Olympian proportions. These are my "Five Reasons Why...." Alabama will be the next SEC champion.
1. Alabama can play close, and come from behind to win. As evidenced by Friday night's Auburn game, the Tide knows how to come back from behind. In Florida's closest game (23-20 over Arkansas), they needed the help of some poor officiating calls to win.
2. Speaking of officiating...After getting that help against Arkansas, Urban Meyer decided that the refs weren't performing up to par. He criticized them. And got punished by the SEC. If the game is at all close, which it most likely will be, look for the refs to punish Urban too. There could be a controversial call or two going in Alabama's favor.
3. Tide wins with turnovers. Unless you're the New Orleans Saints, a positive turnover margin is a must-have for winning a football game. Bama's is a +15, while the gators have a margin of only +8 for the season. I'll take the Crimson Crusaders on the turnover battle. Their +15 is even more impressive when they're doing it in a close-game situation. I would expect the team that dominates its opponents more to have a better turnover margin.
4. Florida has a bad character record. from Brandon Spikes' on-field incident (look at the link, in the first line of the fourth paragraph, horrible grammatical error) to the most recent off-field driving violation, the Gators don't seem to be dedicated to playing clean ball. Sure, Bama has recently been on probation, but their offenses were seemingly minor compared to eye-gouging and drunk driving. The affect on the Championship will be merely through the media, but I still have a problem thinking that the arrest of a starting D-lineman will not help the Gators on the field at all.
5. Bama has more names. Sure, Superman wears Florida blue, but he's one person. And last time I checked, there's no I in team. Nope, still none. Sure Brandon Spikes is a force on defense, but the gators at this moment are out of big game receivers. If Percy Harvin hadn't gone pro, this argument would be a moot point. When I think the Crimson Tide, I think McElroy, Ingram, Julio Jones, Leigh Tiffin (he's the kicker, and he's pretty dang good if you don't follow them), Rolando McClain, more athletes. And the fact that Bama can convert these superstars to play together as a team, that means a lot. And as I mentioned here, when a team doesn't revolve around one (or two) players, they win.
Because I've been thinking....Random Ruminations:
>Were Colts coach Jim Caldwell to retire today, he would be the winningest coach to go undefeated with one team (Wally Lemm went 10-0 with the Oilers after they fired Lou Rymkus in 1961).
>I'm worrying about the WTA. It took them two and a half months to fine Serena Williams for her September 12 tirade. Perhaps it's the worst-run professional organization other than the NBA (with dress code Nazi David Stern) or MLB (are steriods really against the rules? are you sure? because everyone's still doing them).
>Is this the end for Tiger "Count Olaf" Woods? A series of unfortunate events seems to have descended upon the great golfer. Maybe it's Jack "Don't call me Nicholson" Nicklaus's way of telling Tiger, "I'm the best. you won't beat my records. If you try, I will beat you. Or your knee. Or your car."
>The Titans aren't going to the playoffs. Until they are in contention in week 17, I won't say that they will.
>As if anyone was in doubt that this would happen ten weeks ago, Charlie Weis is officially no longer the coach at The Dame of Notres. Shocker. As soon as they started discussing potential candidates to replace his job (about three weeks ago) I knew he was done.
>In other no-longer-coaching news, Bobby Bowden retired two days ago. This officially makes JoePa the greatest old man in football.
>And I'm not done yet! Bill Walsh made it to the Hall of Fame with a 102-63-1 record coaching the 49ers (including 3 Super Bowl victories). His successor, George Seifert, coached the Niners to two more championships, more career wins, and a better winning percentage for the seven years he was the coach in the Bay Area. He is not in the Hall. This needs to be amended.
>I'm surprised Dennis Dixon kept the Steelers in the game against Baltimore. It impressed me that the Oregon product wasn't phased throwing to people wearing the same jersey they wore when he completed his first NFL pass.
As we get nearer the playoffs, I will post all you possibly need to know about them.
-cth
