Crimson & White Roundtable – Duke8 Edition

Little inside joke up there… Anyways, the hosting duties of the Roundtable this week belong to Roll Bama Roll, and we’re gonna get off our duffs and answer them, by golly. On to the questions…

What are your feelings on Alabama’s current position in the polls?
We’re just right. Texas looks very strong, and are currently running a gauntlet. But Alabama is right behind them, and if they win out, the Tide should absolutely be in the national title game. Penn State should have no shot of catching up, all things considered.

What aspect of the game did Alabama control that shocked you the most? What aspect of the game was Alabama dominated in that shocked you the most?
What was exciting to see was the way there was no drop off in the offensive line with the loss of Terrence Cody. Josh Chapman was a more than able replacement. Aside from that, it was nice to see the passing game frustrate Tennessee into stupid penalties.

Not domination, but it was rough to see mental mistakes in the kick return game. Javier Arenas has been so spectacular all season, but he has to know when to throw the hand up and fair catch. But then, we’re just fans, what do we know.

Name your players of the game on offense and on defense.
We want to give the nod on offense to Roy Upchurch, who has talked about his long road back. Upchurch took a while to get his head in the game, but has come back strong and was a force against the Vols last week.

On defense, as we said, Chapman did a great job filling in for Mount Cody. Good thing, too: he’ll get more reps this week.

Arkansas State got a BCS scalp at Texas A&M to open their season, while we’re still living down the humiliation of a loss to their fellow Sun Belt member La.-Monroe. We’ve worried about a letdown all season long and, considering a similarly dominating win over UT preceded the November death spiral last year, are we in danger here?
Danger is too strong a word. Alabama has had a major problem with playing down to the competition for years, and Coach Saban has yet to rid the team of that. Anything can happen once the game starts, but Alabama has finished all its games this season, and there’s no reason to expect they won’t this Saturday. This year’s Tide is mentally stronger and more physically prepared than any team in recent years. We’re hoping last week against Tennessee they turned a corner, and will begin November by crushing an inferior opponent.

Looking around the SEC, which team is the most undervalued in the league? Who is the most overvalued?
There was lots of pre-season hype about Bobby Petrino taking over Arkansas, but Ole Miss is a strong team that will only get stronger under Houston Nutt. Nutt had the Rebels ready to play against Florida, and barely lost to Alabama. They’re going to be a tough team to play for some time to come.

It’s probably too obvious to mention, but pre-season, Auburn was incredibly overvalued. They’ve completely collapsed under the mismanagement of the head coach and his superiors. This season is a lost cause, and unless they make a second run at the spread offense, next year’s recruiting class is probably a bust as well.