the only college football preview that matters
(to me)
((part two))


man.

today's news makes it a little harder to write what i had in mind today, that being a completely biased take on the college football season (or, at least, alabama's football season) to come written by a completely biased alabama football fan.

wait a minute. no, it doesn't.

mark ingram missing a game (or two or three) sucks. let's not dance around it. it sucks uncomfortably hard. one of the most intimidating aspects of alabama's team this year was their overwhelming depth, depth that is possibly more impressive this year than it was last year when they won it all. four and five star recruits back up four and five star starters. outside of the secondary, there isn't a spot on the roster that shouldn't be able to overcome an injury to a starter. that includes overcoming an injury to the reigning best player in college football. as you'll hear ad naseum over the next couple of days, trent richardson may, in fact, be "better" than mark ingram, whatever that means. ingram has won a heisman, so anyone suggesting that bama isn't going to miss a beat without him has got to be completely out of their minds. fortunately for the tide, they can miss a beat or ten against san jose st. and still live to tell about it. boy, had an equivalent injury happened before the clemson game two years ago or last year against va. tech, i would have been really, really worried. not so much right now. ingram's injury does add an unexpected storyline to the season, though, one where the only real headline of significance would be if alabama lost before the sec championship game. we have another headline now, a nauseating headline that makes what seemed to be an offensive juggernaut a little less juggernaut-ish. we can't get too caught up in the ingram stuff now. if we do, we'll miss the forest for the trees, or, rather, we'd miss the forest for the redwood wearing a crimson, number 22 jersey.

college football preview, commence!!!

san jose st. - how many times will ingram be shown on the sidelines during this ppv broadcast? i'll put the over/under at 10. any takers? the best news of my week was hearing that the game will be shown on espn3, meaning i'll be able to catch some of it at the store saturday night. the atmosphere will be insane. i wish i could be there for the announcements of the starters alone. goodness. it will be fantastic. everything leading up to the opening kickoff will be special because it will be the last of the celebration, the last opportunity to look back and remember how special 2009 was. there will also be a game played. it shouldn't be close for much longer than a quarter. should the game go according to plan, the commentators will be speculating by the second half whether or not ingram will be back for...

penn st. - all i can think about when it comes to the penn st. game is the unnerving interview espn ran with joe paterno during the big 10 media days. it was unsettling and unfortunate. gameday will most likely be in tuscaloosa for this game. i wonder if they'll run that interview again. penn st. will be competitive. i will be massively surprised if the game is still in question in the 4th quarter. bama, 2-0.

duke - AT duke. already scheduled for a 2:30 national television spotlight. duke has got to be extremely excited about this game, considering ingram will probably be making a token appearance to make sure he's game ready for the following week. there was a time, three years ago, that i would worry about alabama sleepwalking through this game. no worries here. 3-0.

arkansas - the first sec road test of the year against a lot of people's heisman contender, ryan mallet. mallet's receivers let him down during the first half in tuscaloosa last year. really, the only thing arkansas performed efficiently all game was the block that ended hightower's season. dont'a hightower likely remembers that game. my money is on dont'a announcing his butkus candidacy here with a pair of sacks and an interception. ingram and richardson go for 100 yards each for the first time this season and alabama feels dominant. 4-0.

florida - hmm. this game is the one i can't wait for. barring injuries, it should be the first nailbiter of the year. i don't believe in the rhetoric coming out of gainesville about how much better a "true" quarterback than tebow brantley will be. if he brings his team to alabama and wins, i'll eat crow and own my shortsightedness. i am not, on august 31st., worried about this in the least. ingram goes for 150 and 2 td's and people lament for the last time that he may have had a shot to heisman repeat "if he didn't miss those first two (or three) games. 5-0, but close into the fourth.

south carolina - this game scares me a little. it'll be the week after the huge emotional payoff of the florida game. marcus lattimore will have established himself as the rookie of the year in the sec and spurrier will use last year's game (the game that won ingram the heisman) as motivation to stop the run. introducing, julio jones!!! can you believe i was able to go six games without mentioning jesus, himself. think about this for a second. forever etched in stone will be the fact (THE FACT) that it was julio's coming to the capstone that set the stage for the potential five year dynasty that is the current era of alabama football. he was hurt last year. he was leaped over by a teammate in production and value to the team during a stretch of 8-9 games where he was not at 100 percent. he is now healthy. his quarterback has taken off the training wheels. i guaran-damn-tee you this. there will be two epic julio jones performances this year. i predict we see the first one on this night in a tight game. 6-0.

ole miss - a dangerous homecoming game, but this is the game i see alabama hitting their stride. jeremiah masoli will wish he stole a computer or something and got suspended (from his second team) prior to this game after the beating he and his team will take. not close. 7-0 (edit: doesn't look like masoli's going to be eligible. even not-closer.)

tennessee - i won't predict a laugher here, but i do think it could be a long, long year for young coach dooley. his best running back isn't on the team anymore. ut is rebuilding. rebuilding teams do not beat this year's alabama football team. 8-0, going away.

lsu - if jordan jefferson takes any sort of significant step towards becoming a real quarterback this year, this game could be tight. even les miles can figure out ways to get russell shepherd the ball. russell shepherd scares me. julio could be taken out of this game, or he could announce that he's a lot surer a nfl prospect than the cornerback that blanketed him last year in patrick peterson. flip of a coin on that mano-a-mano, but i think alabama wins this game by two touchdowns. 9-0

mississippi st. - ingram and richardson do their thing. mississippi st. thinks they are turning a corner 'til they get blown away by 28 points. 10-0.

georgia st. - bill curry brings star jackson back to t-town in a game that neither of the two will ever forget. alabama will win by 50, but this is a very cool game with very cool storylines. 11-0.

auburn. - oh, auburn. what will your record be coming into the iron bowl? 8-3? maybe 9-2? better??? who knows. according to a couple espn "experts", the 2010 iron bowl could have a trip to atlanta added to the already high, emotional stakes. auburn, i expect to be better, but i don't know how much i expect. i am not sold on cam newton...yet. i am not sold that auburn won't really miss ben tate. i am sold on michael dyer. but, if the season plays out the way i have it doing so above, this game will mean much, much more to alabama and they'll be at home. if alabama has stumbled once, twice or more coming into this game, this could be the game that puts gene chizik on the real map and not just the one they sell in alabama gas stations. also, keep in mind this will likely be julio (tear) and mcelroy (he's not terribly exciting, but he did quarterback a national championship team. he's the new jay barker.) and ingram's (yesterday's injury to ingram set that in stone for him) last home game. i don't see them losing their last home game. 12-0.

am i a homer? sure. biased? completely. off-base? probably not. alabama hasn't lost ONE of it's last TWENTY-FOUR regular season games. this team is deeper and more talented than the last two. are they better? who knows. that'll play out, beginning saturday night. i think they could be, though, and, if i think that, it makes sense to project them winning all twelve again this season.

if we make it to atlanta again, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

in years past, i kept my ear much closer to the national ground than i have the last two years. alabama's story and their runs through the sec have more than enough to keep my attention.

i can tell you that i hate, hate, HATE va. tech, and yet i'll still be rooting for them on labor day against boise st.

i can tell you that i will root for EVERY sec team to win their out of conference games to shut up everybody that's been talking about other leagues "catching up".

i can tell you that mark ingram WILL NOT win the heisman again, but trent WILL next year.

and i can tell you that i love being right (see last item). god help us all if i am right with the above predictions. god help us all.

roll saban.