Alabama Crimson Tide: Odds and ends from Tuscaloosa

For the Alabama Crimson Tide fans dreading a long football season, we have an update. There are only 227 days until the 2023 college football season begins. That is the current interval until the next, week zero games, which include Hawaii coming to Nashville to play Vandy. Navy and Notre Dame will also play that weekend, in Dublin, Ireland.

Seven days later some Blue Raiders will be sacrificed in Tuscaloosa as the Alabama Crimson Tide hosts Middle Tennessee State. Until then the only game for Alabama football fans will be the A-Day game on Saturday, Apr. 22.

A reminder is the 2023 season could be the last season SEC Football has division play. The current plan is to drop divisions when Texas and Oklahoma join the league in the 2025 season. But it appears some softening in sentiments has occurred in the Big 12, possibly leading to the Longhorns and Sooners joining the SEC for the 2024 season. At 16 teams, the SEC will not have divisions.

At least one pundit believes the Crimson Tide will not win the SEC West in 2023. Reportedly former Florida Gator, Chris Doering is picking LSU over the Crimson Tide and predicting the Bengal Tigers will be the SEC’s 2023 Champion.

Perhaps some soothing news for Alabama Crimson Tide fans is the final 2022 ESPN FPI rankings have Alabama as the nation’s No. 2 team. The FPI dropped TCU from No. 10 (after their win over Michigan) to No. 13.

The best news for Alabama football fans is recent optimism that Justin Eboigbe will be able to return to football in 2023. A timeline for the Tide’s much-needed defensive lineman to be medically cleared to play is not known.

Alabama Crimson Tide Hoops News

Alabama will play in the Bud Walton Arena Wednesday night at 6:00 PM. The game can be seen on ESPN with Karl Ravech and Jay Bilas handling the broadcast.

Alabama is a slight favorite, helped by the fact that two of the top three Razorbacks will not play. As a ranked team, Arkansas has an exceptional record in Bud Walton,  in beating other ranked teams.

It was a bleak Tuesday night for Kentucky in Lexington. Big Blue fans booed the team or John Calipari – or both perhaps, as the Cats went down to a weak South Carolina team, 71-68. The Gamecocks went into the game with an NCAA NET ranking of No. 263.

The Crimson Tide Hoops’ resume got a boost Tuesday night with Michigan State beating Wisconsin.