With the first college football weekend of 2010 now in the books, what do we know?
2009 was just the beginning. This notion was offered by Saban at a BCS championship party last January, but it really was true. There’s a lot of football to play, and yes, a football can take some funny bounces, but this is what our football team will look like for the foreseeable future. And when Dareus comes back, it just won’t be fair.
Watch other games and it will make you thankful for what we have. From technique, to tenacity, to talent, to see a better coached, deeper, thicker team you’d have to watch the NFL. Saban continues to build the teams he promised us he would in his first presser. We are a team you hate to play.
Cam Newton lives up to his hype. I can admit it when I am wrong. This QB is for real and can dominate a football game, so long as the opponent is from the Sun Belt Conference. If Auburn can sub a few existing foes in favor of Middle Tennessee State, South Alabama or Louisiana-Lafayette, the Tigers can easily run the table this season.
Folks, we have kickers. There are bound to be some bumps in the road, but Foster, Mandell and even Shelley left us all breathing a little easier heading into the weeks ahead.
Folks, we have running backs. We need Ingram back, period. But dang it’s ridiculous what we have in our backfield. Ingram, Richardson, Lacy. All fast, all punishing, and all get bigger as you go down the depth chart.
Folks, we have a quarterback. McCarron will make you forget every QB before him one day, but is there a more cerebral quarterback in college football today than Greg McElroy? There are some as good, but none more so. He is a surgeon that can and will pick you apart.
Boise State belongs. Say what you want, but this is a team that deserves a spot in the BCS picture. Do they play a soft schedule? Yes. Do they seem to have an inordinate amount of time to prepare for their “big games”? Yes. But their performance Monday night on that stage puts them on the map for 2010. How good is Va.Tech? Can an average team get up for one game (see UT/AU 2009)? Doesn’t matter. I’d love to meet them in Glendale this January.
Les Miles is done. Say goodbye to Les this season. His goose is cooked, or geographically more appropriate, deep fried. After nearly blowing it against a team with more than a dozen difference makers suspended, bid the hat farewell when he comes to your town.
Tubby still looks goofy. New colors, same goofy stiff-necked, wingnut-eared look. Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville almost let a team led by the most inept college QB I’ve seen in years come back and beat him on his debut. Give him four years there, tops.
Auburn’s defense is atrocious. Ted Roof looks and sounds like Tony Franklin, post-game. He doesn’t know why it’s not working, but it’s not working. I didn’t think they could look worse than last season, but they do. Heard a friend mutter to a fellow Aubie over the weekend “They’ll get it fixed.” No they won’t. You can’t get a mule to run the Kentucky Derby, and Auburn’s mule doesn’t even have four legs. They better hope Cam’s shoulder holds up to score five TD’s every game.
Mississippi State looks for real. I’ll say now, the Bulldogs will finish 2nd in the West. They have the 3rd best coaching staff in the conference and look to be putting together something special in Starkville.
Bryant-Denny is amazing. I obviously haven’t seen them all, but I can’t imagine a better venue for college football in America. It is absolutely stunning.
Jesse Williams is headed to Tuscaloosa. The #1 JUCO player in the land committed to Bama over the weekend. The beat just keeps rolling in recruiting as Nick Saban is set to shelve his third #1 recruiting class. Williams, an Australian who will play nose guard, is a beast. A freak. Think Terrence Cody, but with more lean body mass. It’s not fair what we’re putting on the field at Alabama. Williams will start from day one.
We’ve got to kill the circus elephants. The lone embarrassment from the weekend continues to be the circus looking elephants used in the pregame video. With “Thunderstruck” blaring, it’s game time, and everybody’s blood is pumping. Then here they come…the white and red circus elephants on the big screens. Stop the madness, people. Kill the elephants. Find or create better footage please…
Ole Miss. What else is there to say? Dan Mullen is about to do to Houston Nutt what Nick Saban is in the process of doing to Frank Chiznik.
South Carolina is a contender, and the Gators aren’t. Florida can get better, but it appears Steve Spurrier finally has the tools in place to make a run for Atlanta. Looking forward to October 9th in Columbia.
Don’t let Mario Fannin hold your baby. Unless you want the child dropped with possible brain damage. Fumblin’ Fannin is back for another year, fumbling (again) in the 3rd quarter; he didn’t carry it again.
Finally, defense (again) will win championships. Keep your ECU-Tulsa shootouts (though the hail marry to win it was amazing). You can have your 49-48 double overtime game. Give me a D that hits you in the mouth from opening kick-off until the final play of your final possession, punishing you, breaking your will one play at a time. Few have that. Alabama does, and that’s the reason we will contend again this season.
(Follow me on Twitter at ITK4BAMA for capstonereport.com news, updates and smack.)
After one game you have the entire season figured out, eh ?
Cant say that I do not agree with some of what you said , even about Auburn….but it is a little premature to rush to judgement on some of what you said.
If you meant what you said, and truly believe that Miss. St. will be #2 in the west, what are you gonna say when Auburn beats them ?
As for Ted Roof, I wonder when people will start assigning blame to his boss, Gene Chizik. Isn’t Chizik supposed to be some sort of defensive genius? You can’t tell me he hands the keys to Roof and sits back and has no input into the game plan. I don’t buy it. We’ll see alot of points scored against that Auburn defense, just like last year.
Since it’s not going to happen, the question is moot.
What are you gonna say if Miss. St. beats Auburn? Auburns defense could still improve, but it looked at lot like last years, maybe worse. Ark. St. QB had a career day against them. Don’t know how well that will hold up in the SEC.
ITK…….What is your response to Newton getting the SEC offensive player of the week ?
BP, when your starting QB has to play the whole game to put away a Sun Belt team with a Sun Belt defense, stats will follow.
Wonder what Greg McElroy’s stats would have been had he played past the 2nd quarter?
“If you meant what you said, and truly believe that Miss. St. will be #2 in the west, what are you gonna say when Auburn beats them ?”
FTA: “Can an average team get up for one game (see UT/AU 2009)”
Anyone can get up for one game. My example would be Auburn last year against Alabama, even though they couldn’t quite seal the deal. If Auburn beats MSU, but still finishes with an average record, then they’re just average. If MSU loses to Auburn in a fluke, and finishes with only one other conference loss, then they’re still better than Auburn. It’s just numbers.
Eddie Lacy runs for 113 yds against a WAC team: “Folks, we have running backs.”
Cam Newton rushes for 175 yds, has 186 yds passing, accounts for 5 tds, and is named SEC Player of the Week: “This QB is for real and can dominate a football game, so long as the opponent is from the Sun Belt Conference.”
Wow it’s amazing that you can tell someone is great when they simply have a solid game against a WAC Team, but absolutely nothing when someone has record setting performance against a Sun Belt team.
I can guarantee you that McElroy wouldn’t put up 175 yds rushing if he played for 20 qtrs.
If that was the first game McElroy ever played at Bama, he would have played just as much as Newton did.
Hey Julia, Arky St. QB had a career day also. You get your feelings hurt too easily. Maybe you should just hit up the Auburn boards where you all can pat each other on the back. I would be worried about your defense if I were you. Go State!
First off , I agree that giving up 26 to Arky St. is not good. I know that there is much room for improvement with our defense. But, as thin as we still are at linebacker, losing Craig Stevens hurt. Also, I dont look for that same defense to show up at Starkville.
Arky St. has a pretty good quarterback, and is a well coached team. I dont believe for one second that Alabama would have beat them 43-6.
We beat the crap out of the dogs last year, and will do the same this year.
Obviously you didn’t see Lacy running away from the San Jose St. players, Julia. Lacy looked more explosive than Carnell Williams with his straight line speed. Also, he is bigger than any of your Barner backs.
BSU is not that great. They are well coached and Va Tech looked pathetic at times on offense by running right into the run blitzes every running situation. Their line can’t pass protect. If you paid attention, you’d see that Va Tech dominated once the constant blitzing wore out the BSU defense. If Va Tech made one more first down, they would have won the game. It was the worst coaching job I’d seen in awhile. Beamer doesn’t deserve a National Championship with stupid moves like that. Total idiocy.
Alex, I agree …VT looked undisciplined. This is the worst Beamer team I have seen in a while. Boise is a very well coached, and highly disciplined team. In my opinion, the better team won.
Julia, neither would any of your running backs.
So you WANT to have to lean on your QB for ground yards in the SEC? Interesting. Somewhere Jordan Jefferson is shedding a tear for Camputer. Hope the shoulder holds up.
Julia says:
“Wow it’s amazing that you can tell someone is great when they simply have a solid game against a WAC Team, but absolutely nothing when someone has record setting performance against a Sun Belt team.”
Lacy is third-team. Camputer is your starter (for now). I know, let’s get an intramural team on the field against Cam this afternoon. I bet his stats would be even BETTER!
You’re right, ITK. Having a qb who is both a running and passing threat is a bad thing. I hate those linebackers who are good at both tackling and pass coverage, too. Too much risk of injury.
Yeah, because a linebacking corp doing the punishing is the same as a quarterback taking it.
Lacy got more carries than any of Bama’s other RB’s against SJSU, just as Newton got more snaps than any other qb against ASU. Not sure what point you were pathetically trying to make with that whole “3rd string skewed the stats” argument.
You need to ask yourself, as a team, why Newton got more snaps against Arkansas State.
(That would concern me, but then, I’m not a delusional barner.)
When the qb is 6’6″ and weighs 250 lbs he’ll be the one doling out the punishment.
Because I have at least an average or above IQ, I don’t need to ask myself a question with such an obvious answer. This was the first game Newton ever played for Auburn. Of course you want to get the guy more experience than you would with a starter who’s already played in several games.
Your splitting hairs ITK. You cant have your cake and eat it too.. What you say applies to AU should apply yo UA as well.
Oh, and I thought it was because AU couldn’t put away a team Troy will likely bury. My bad. Wish I had YOUR IQ!
So now Cam is the next Tebow. HA! Julia, you are so disillusioned with your Auburn team. We will see how much punishment he can take, since we know the Auburn defense he practices against tackles like a bunch of girls. I doubt he will be running through SEC defenses each week. I notice not one of you Auburn goons have expressed any concerns with that terrible defense. If Cam can’t get on the field, how is he gonna win the big game for ya?
Julia, by the way:
“When the qb is 6’6″ and weighs 250 lbs he’ll be the one doling out the punishment.”
Looking forward to taking that one down and dusting it off later.
AU couldn’t “put them away”? Yeah, that game was a real nail biter when AU was only up by 4 tds at the beginning of the 4th qtr.
So…when Auburn destroys MSU you will then give them some credit? If you think MSU is 2nd best in the west, I want to hear some props for Auburn after they destroy the bulldogs. (Not that I really expect you to give Auburn any credit)
Funny position Auburn is in, they could be Alabama six years in a row and still not get any props from Alabama fans….
Funny position Auburn is in, they could beat Alabama six years in a row and still not get any props from Alabama fans…
Jack, that streak has been over for three years now. Where have you been? You realize Bama is number 1 and just won the NC, right? What did Auburn do in those 6 years again? You want Bama fans to say ‘way to go Auburn for beating us 6 years’ or something? How about you showing some respect for what Bama has just done. I know it is hard for you to swallow.
Define not putting a team away…….The score was 52-26…Bot of their t.d.s came in the first half……..Are you huffing paint ?
It was a tight game until Auburn broke it open around half-time. Auburn should have beat that team badly. Bama shut them out last year. But Auburn gave up around 350 yards of offense to this team, and should have trounced on them from the beginning. Auburn can’t afford a slow start against SEC teams if their defense is not markedly improved from last year.
The difference being that Newton, just like Mallet played practically the whole game and Lacy came in as the third back after Goode. with Ingram hurt you don’t think Lacy and McCarron both needed shite loads of time on the field just in case? Now what’s gonna happen if Newton goes down next week trying to imitate Tebow against an SEC defense? Who has game experience to replace him? I guarantee if he tries to carry the team with his legs against Bama, he’ll die just like Jefferson. McCoy and Tebow. And Julia as for the WAC – Sunbelt thing get real.. The WAC competes for National Championships. the Sunbelt doesn’t even compete. Hell, Louisiana Tech could win the Sunbelt every year. Both VT and Boise alternated between making some really great plays and looking like shite. VT isn’t half the team they were last year when Alabama’s young offense ran up 500 yards on them. Boise is a pretty good team, but they don’t belong in the top 5. By the way Julia the score was 48-3 and yes Bama would have beat ASU by (cont)
(CONT) that much or more, especially if McElroy. Richardson. Julio. Maze and others had played as much as Auburn’s first stringer’s did. Do you realize that Bama had 250 yards in the first quarter? That is a 1000 yards in a game fool! RTR!
Bama’s backup team looked better than Auburns starters, that is for sure. But Cam is the SEC player of the week! Against Arky St. no less. Bama had over 700 yards against a cupcake and only allowed around 150 yards of total offense. Bama’s win was more impressive, but Auburn people haven’t had much to cheer about lately. Cam wasn’t as consitent as you would want, yet, and I don’t think he will be winning the Heisman anytime soon either. But Julia thinks this is the answer. Auburns offense wasn’t the problem last year, julia.
Crimsonite, did you seriously just try to paint SJSU as a national title contender just because they play in the same conference as Boise Freakin’ State??? Can you at least attempt to be rational and objective??? SJSU got beat by Nevada last year 60-7. Other WAC conference stalwarts include Idaho, New Mexico State, Utah State, and La Tech.
BTW, you and ITK act like AU had nothing but starters in the whole time. Do you realize AU gave 10 different freshmen significant playing time against ASU?
San Jose would lose by at least three towuchdowns to Arky St. Our level of competition was low, but much higher than yours.
Auburn has 9 seniors on defense and against a cupcake they gave up way to much yardage and points. You would think with that many veteran players you would improve, but Auburn lost their best defensive players last year. And BP, a cupcake is a cupcake. There you go if’n, woulda, and coulda, like a true Auburn fan. We will get a better idea about both teams this week.
brandii, you know what Craig Sanders, Corey Lemonier, Jessel Curry, Jeff Whitaker, Kenneth Carter, Demetreuce McNeal, and Chris Davis all have in common?? They’re all true freshmen and they all got significant playing time against ASU on defense.
I agree AU gave up too many yards and points against ASU. (See, there’s a difference. You wouldn’t have admitted Bama did anything wrong when they lost to La-Mo.) That’s gonna happen soemtimes when you throw that many freshmen in the mix. The reality is they finally shut ASU down in the 2nd half when their heads stopped spinning. You are right that we’ll get a better picture of both teams after this week.
Ummm, Craig Sanders got significant playing time against ASU? Wanna check that?
And I didn’t know outscoring a Sun Belt team 17-10 in the second half is “finally shutting ASU down”.
Geeze, I have GOT to get my terminology right.
ITK…Had we left the 1st string “O” in for the entirety of the fourth quarter, you know they could have scored at least once if not twice more. Your splittin hairs. Bottom line is that A State is not a good indicator of how our season will progress.
And lets not pretend this team is anywhere as bad as San Jose Stete. this team beat Texas A&M in 2008. Nearly beat Texas in 07. And, in general does not suck. I would say they compare favorably to Troy. And for those that think I am full of crap on that , they play Troy on the 25th. So, we will see.
Ummmm, Craig Sanders rotated at DE the entire 2nd half, and played the entire game on special teams. Feel free to “check that” if you’d like to.
Ahhhh, the ITK word twisting spin machine. I said the D finally shut ASU down in the 2nd half when their head stopped spinning. After ASU scored a quick td on the fumbled kickoff within the first couple of minutes of the 2nd half, they only managed one field goal and 110 yds for the rest of the game. Not sure what AU’s offensive production has to do with that stat, other than to try and make your spin sound more credible.
Okay, thanks Julio. I’m sorry, got my Sanders and my Stevens mixed up. Like most of the world, I don’t pay that close attention to the details of your storied program.
And BP, I’m sure you and Uncle Rico believe “had you left your 1st stringers in” you could have scored 200 (and Cam “coulda thrown it a quarter mile”), but we’ll save that fantasy for another day.
Bragging about what you “coulda done” to Arkansas State is like bragging about kicking a puppy. And that puppy still had you running for far too long in the game! LOL!
Trent Richardson to grace cover of next Sports Illustrated…NOT Cam Newton.
Bamaferg, that just CAN’T be so!
Oh but it is. The cover is on rolltide.com… Very nice and definitely NOT Cam Newton.
You don’t pay that close attention to what happens at AU???? That is without question the biggest mound of bullshi+ you have ever laid in here.
Which one of us is engaging the other on his rival’s website?
And I mean daily?
Which of you spews articles about their “irrelevent” rival , and I mean “daily” ??
You act like Saturdays Auburn game was as close as last years Iron Bowl or something.