Morning Kickoff: Crimson Tide News 9/17
By Tyler Dalton
Get your morning started here with the latest Crimson Tide news. We made it to the halfway point of this week, just a couple more days and hello weekend. So let’s kick it off.
Gators face huge test at Alabama
"CB Vernon Hargreaves III faces a huge challenge this week in one-and-one coverage with Alabama junior WR Amari Cooper, who has been targeted 50 times this season. For the season, the speedy Cooper has 33 catches for 454 yards and 2 TDs. Hargreaves has been targeted 11 times this season and has allowed just two catches for 16 yards with five pass breakups and no interceptions."
The biggest match up to watch Saturday may just be Cooper vs Hargreaves. Arguably, the best players at their respective position face off and the winner of the battle may just end up winning the game. If Cooper manages to go off against the big time cornerback, his heisman campaign (that I will continue to talk about until he proves me otherwise) may start rolling. Florida comes to town as the leader of the SEC East, something not many people were expecting. A big statement win by Alabama would be huge going into their off week before visiting Ole Miss.
"College football is an illusion. You stare so hard at it every Saturday, thinking you see the picture, only to have that very same game you were just watching mean something totally different a month later.Virginia Tech’s win at Ohio State was HUGE! One week later, after the Hokies were upset at home by East Carolina, Ohio State’s loss looked even worse. Clemson’s loss to Georgia wasn’t so bad — until Georgia lost to South Carolina."
This is why you shouldn’t get caught up in the polls. The committee releases their first rankings October 28th, all the rankings before then? It’s for the fans to bicker among themselves and others. The college football world changes on a weekly basis. Who had Florida as the SEC East leader right now? Who thought Notre Dame would rise up? Ohio State’s season ending before it even started? Georgia losing to South Carolina after the week 1 results? Exactly. This week we could see FSU or Oklahoma upset, maybe Auburn on Thursday? Okay maybe that’s more of wishful thinking. Point is, forget trying to figure everything out now and just sit back and enjoy the ride.
SEC West dominates latest ranking
"9. Florida: It’s time for a reality check for the Gators. They needed triple-overtime – and a break from the officials in the first overtime — to win at home over Kentucky and now they head to Alabama. To say Florida coach Will Muschamp is feeling the heat is an understatement. Some of Florida’s defensive breakdowns against Kentucky were alarming."
Kinda in a love/hate with how Florida played last week. On one hand it eased my fears a bit about the game. I was higher on Florida entering this year than most and figured this would be a tough game. Now after seeing the Kentucky game I’ve eased up a bit. On the other side, it really feels like Florida was looking ahead. Hopefully the players haven’t eased up like me when looking at Florida because make no mistake, they’re coming to play. As far as the rankings go, the SEC West is absolutely loaded this year. I disagree with Ole Miss at #5 but I’m eagerly looking forward to someone debating me on Alabama’s strength of schedule.
Alabama can’t win a national championship with Blake Sims
"The conversation then shifted to Alabama and its quarterback situation. Kanell said his reasoning for leaving the Crimson Tide out of the playoff centers on Blake Sims, the redshirt senior who has started every game for Nick Saban’s squad thus far this season. Kanell said he doesn’t know if Alabama can score enough to beat Auburn or Texas A&M with Sims at quarterback."
Okay first off, I share the same concern. The difference? I’m not a troll. To say the concern is centered around Blake Sims is ridiculous. For me, I made it known I was on the Jake Coker bandwagon. Even I have come around to Sims as our starting QB. Are there concerns? Yes. But don’t center it around the guy in charge of the offense that has put up the most yards in the team’s first 3 games in school history. This is just the media continuing to try and fuel a QB controversy that simply isn’t there any longer. Sims is the guy. If Alabama can have success with guys like John Parker Wilson and Greg McElroy, then I’m sure Blake Sims can also do an excellent job. You don’t exactly have to be Marcus Mariota to have success at Alabama.
Pro Football Hall of Fame nominees include 3 from Alabama
"Three former Alabama players and three former Auburn players are on the list of modern-era nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015. The list, released on Tuesday night, includes running back Shaun Alexander, linebacker Cornelius Bennett and offensive tackle Chris Samuels of Alabama and offensive tackle Willie Anderson, running back Stephen Davis and linebacker Kevin Greene of Auburn."
Three players from Alabama and three from Auburn are nominees this year for the Hall of Fame. Shaun Alexander may have the best shot at getting in, he owned the single season TD record for a few years and was named NFL MVP. He was also voted into the Pro Bowl four times and appeared in a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks. Cornelius Bennett appeared in four straight Super Bowls with the Buffalo Bills and earned Pro Bowl honors in each of those years. He was also named to the All-Pro list and played in 206 games. It’s always nice to see Alabama players do well at the next level, even if you’re not an NFL fan you can feel a since of pride knowing some of these players were “Built by Bama”. Hopefully some of our current players can make the leap and be nominated way down the line.
That’s it for today’s article dump. Thanks for letting us be apart of your morning. Don’t forget it’s #FloridaHateWeek. There is something severely wrong if I don’t see more pics of Tebow crying on social media today.