Alabama No. 1 In Coaches' Preseason Poll

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TYSONS CORNER, Va. -- Defending national champion Alabama is No. 1 atop the USA Today preseason coaches' poll.


Boise State will begin the season ranked No. 5. The Broncos, like Alabama, finished last season 14-0. They beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl.


The Crimson Tide got 55 of 59 possible first place votes. The other four went to Ohio State, which is No. 2 in the newspaper's ranking.


Florida is third, followed by Texas, which lost to Alabama in the BCS title game in January.
Virginia Tech was sixth, followed by TCU, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa to round out the top 10.


Nos. 11-15 are Oregon, Wisconsin, Miami, Penn State and Pittsburgh. They were followed by LSU, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Arkansas and Florida State, which will be without Bobby Bowden as coach for the first time in 35 years.
Georgia is No. 21, Oregon State No. 22, Auburn No. 23 and Utah and West Virginia tied for No. 24.


The coaches' poll is part of the BCS formula used to determine its national champion.
 

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hopefully Va Tech will smash boise so we don't have to hear about that crap all season

Go Sooners
 

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Huskers in the top 10 pleases me greatly. Good to see the program on the rise again. Thanks Bo.

And just in case you think we've forgotten, F You Callahan!
 

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http://www.tidesports.com/article/20101016/NEWS/101019777/1011
Tide not out of BCS title hunt, but will need help


Staff Graphic | Anthony Bratina


By Tommy Deas Executive Sports Editor
Published: Saturday, October 16, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, October 15, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
( page of 6 )
The 2010 regular season is halfway over for the University of Alabama football team, and the Crimson Tide already has one defeat.

The defending national champions dropped from the No. 1 ranking they had held since the preseason to No. 8 in the major polls after last weekend’s loss to South Carolina. The first official Bowl Championship Series standings, which will decide which two teams will play for the national title, haven’t even been released yet and Alabama is already on the outside looking in at the championship race.
The title chase, however, is far from over. In fact, the experts caution that you’d better strap on your seat belt.
“Anybody who wants to write the obituary on the Crimson Tide is certainly premature,” said Jeff Anderson, a California resident who runs one of six computer ranking systems that figure into the BCS formula. “Anybody who thinks Alabama is out of it at this point is clearly not looking back at their BCS history.”
Help wanted
Because of the loss to South Carolina, Alabama will need help to get back into the national title picture.
“If Alabama wins out, I think all they need to play for a national championship is for there to be only one undefeated conference champion out of the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-10,” said Brad Edwards, ESPN’s resident BCS analyst (and, incidentally, a 1994 UA graduate). “If two of those conferences have a champion with a loss, I think a one-loss Alabama would finish ahead of Boise State or TCU.”
The first BCS standings will be released this Sunday, but Edwards has already done the math: the Crimson Tide would be 10th in the rankings right now, with Boise State at No. 1, followed by Oregon, TCU, Oklahoma and Ohio State.
The BCS standings are derived from a formula that includes six different computer systems as well as the USA Today Top 25 coaches’ poll and the Harris Interactive Poll, which polls 114 voters in a panel made up of former collegiate coaches, players and administrators as well as current and former media members.
The first thing that needs to happen for Alabama to be in the BCS Championship Game on Jan. 10, 2011, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., is for the Tide to run through the rest of its schedule without a loss and then win the Southeastern Conference Championship Game on Dec. 4 in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
The margin for error for UA, however, was exhausted with the South Carolina defeat. With another loss, Alabama’s chances of defending last year’s national title evaporate.
Even if the Tide rolls the rest of the way and finishes 12-1 through the league championship tilt, other teams will have to lose. Oregon in the Pac-10, Ohio State in the Big Ten and both Nebraska and Oklahoma in the Big 12, if unbeaten at the end, all figure to finish ahead of a one-loss Alabama team in the final BCS Standings.
Wide-open race
Even with all the undefeated teams still remaining, Edwards looks at the current standings and believes the quest for the two spots in the national title game is wide open.
“Typically at this time in the season there is one team I can usually circle and say they control their destiny,” he said, “but given the stature of the teams that are still undefeated, I don’t think there’s any one of them that’s a shoe-in to be ahead of the others.
“It was different last year when you had teams like Alabama and Florida and Texas stacked up against Cincinnati. You know Cincinnati is going to be in the back of the pack of that group.”
Alabama’s strength of schedule in the SEC would lift it past both Boise State and TCU in the rankings that count.
“In the end, is it more of an accomplishment to go 11-1 with one schedule or go 12-0 with another schedule or even 10-2 with another schedule?” said Anderson, who runs the Anderson and Hester Rankings, which began in 1994 and have been part of the BCS formula since the BCS system originated four years later. “In my rankings, a one-loss team with a schedule like Alabama’s is certainly going to be right near the top. It’s impossible to say right now where they would end up because so much varies from year to year on where the other teams stand up.
“Alabama’s schedule is certainly going to end up being pretty tough with the games still to come against LSU, Auburn and the SEC Championship Game against South Carolina or Florida, probably.”
Where Alabama’s schedule doesn’t hold up as well is out of conference. Penn State has an attractive name, but the Nittany Lions are 3-3. San Jose State and Duke are a combined 2-9.
Georgia State is playing its first season of football and is not yet a full NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I) program, but that game won’t really hurt UA. Since Georgia State’s games against lower-division teams don’t carry much weight, the game can only help Alabama.
“It would be better than playing a (FBS) team that was 0-and-11,” Edwards said. “If Georgia State (now 4-2) ends up having a good record against that schedule, it’s better than playing like a (currently winless) Memphis.”
If Alabama is able to get through the rest of its schedule without a loss, it would get a bonus from the SEC title game. That extra game, likely against either the South Carolina team that handed UA its only loss or the Florida Gators, could make the difference in getting UA back into the BCS title.
“They’ll still be fine just because they would be beating LSU on the road and winning at a neutral site against either South Carolina or Florida, and obviously the win over Auburn would be high-quality,” Edwards said. “Alabama’s best-case scenario is to play South Carolina again and get to avenge that loss.”
The circumstances of Alabama’s loss would also play in UA’s favor. The South Carolina defeat came at the end of a stretch of three consecutive games against ranked teams.
“It’s not just strength of schedule,” said Dan Wetzel, co-author of the book “Death to the BCS” and national columnist for Yahoo.com. “It’s also this cluster of games in a row, with two of them on the road. What happened to Alabama, I liken to (Southern Cal) in recent years when they had those great teams and lost one game.”....
 

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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...ap.fbc.t25.alabama.lsu.1st.ld.writethru.0958/


Posted: Friday November 5, 2010 1:13 PM

Alabama seeks to keep title hopes intact at LSU




Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...bama.lsu.1st.ld.writethru.0958/#ixzz14SNIQN9P

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Between teaching high school quarterbacks to throw spirals this summer in Louisiana, Alabama's Greg McElroy had nice things to say about playing in Tiger Stadium - so nice it might give Tide fans a complex.
"LSU on the road - there's no better atmosphere in college football. That's my favorite stadium,'' McElroy gushed while serving as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux. "I just love it down there.
"Most people would agree that Tiger Stadium is the best,'' McElroy continued. "It's crazy. It's rowdy. The fans are into it. All the little cheers where they throw their hands up ... all that stuff is so cool. Their band is awesome and it's just such a fun experience to go play there.''
Well, Greg, the moment you've been waiting for is finally here. Your first start in Death Valley.
On Saturday, McElroy hopes to continue a long tradition of Alabama dominance in Tiger Stadium, thereby making his affection for a rival's venue a little easier for the Tide faithful to stomach.
LSU's home field is famously tough on most visiting teams, but not Alabama. The Crimson Tide is 24-6-2 in Tiger Stadium since it was built 86 years ago.
Alabama won the last meeting in Baton Rouge in 2008, albeit in a wild overtime game that nearly resulted in the Tide's first loss that season. Alabama also beat LSU last season in Tuscaloosa, Ala., in another hard-fought contest that saw the Tide pull ahead for good on Julio Jones' 73-yard score in the fourth quarter.
The two SEC Western Division rivals have become accustomed to playing big games against each other, and 2010 is no different. The fifth-ranked Crimson Tide (7-1, 4-1 SEC) can still win the Southeastern Conference championship, and remain in the hunt for a second straight national title, if it wins the rest of its games.
No. 12 LSU (7-1, 4-1) also still has a chance to win league by sweeping its final games, but also needs Auburn to lose to Georgia next week and to Alabama in the Iron Bowl on Nov. 26.
With the Tigers more of a long-shot, the story lines for this game have revolved mostly around Alabama trying to keep alive hope of repeating, and the Tide is favored by nearly a touchdown.
The Tigers are feeling overshadowed, not that they're surprised.
"That's been the story for us the whole year,'' receiver Russell Shepard said. "Nobody thought we were going to be 7-1. When you're playing a team like Alabama, who's a very, very well recognized team not only in college football but in sports itself, you're going to have that.''
While the game sets up a potentially mesmerizing matchup between Jones and LSU star cornerback Patrick Peterson, most players expect a bruising, old-school SEC clash defined by running and defense.
"The history doesn't lie,'' LSU linebacker Kelvin Sheppard said. "Both teams are going to line up, try to control the line of scrimmage and run the football, and whichever defense comes to play that day will most likely come out with the upper hand.''
While McElroy is a competent passer, Alabama's strength on offense is a running game led by Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and his super-talented backup, Trent Richardson. Together they've helped the Tide averaged 187 yards rushing this season. Likewise, LSU's strength on offense has been its running game, led by Stevan Ridley, who averages 90.4 yards per game.
The big question for LSU is the play of its two quarterbacks, Jordan Jefferson and Jerrett Lee. The Tigers rank last in the SEC in passing with 138.8 yards per game.
The teams rank 1-2 in the league in total defense and scoring defense.
LSU's run defense was reeling after giving up 440 yards on the ground in its lone loss at Auburn, although half of that total was racked by quarterback Cam Newton on his unconventional bursts out of the spread formation. Alabama coach Nick Saban said it would be unwise to judge the Tigers based on that performance, and Ingram agreed.
"We know what type of defense LSU has,'' Ingram said. "The past two years that I've played them, they've been great athletes running to the ball. They're a big challenge to us.''
Les Miles, who was Saban's successor at LSU back in 2005, said his defense expects to play better against the Tide.
"Our defense is looking forward to focusing on tackling tailbacks and focusing on preparing for a very talented offense, but one in which we understand the complexities a little bit better,'' Miles said.


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...bama.lsu.1st.ld.writethru.0958/#ixzz14SNEzWiK
 

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