Category: Alabama Crimson Tide

Choosing a quarterback is like baking a cake according to Alabama head coach Nick Saban

Choosing a quarterback is kind of like baking a cake, according to head coach Nick Saban.

As one would expect the hot topic at SEC media days for the Alabama Crimson Tide revolves around the quarterback situation.

However, instead of a coach speak answer, the head football coach compared it to Grandma Saban’s baking. Not the way many believed Nick Saban would answer the question about who exactly would be under center when the Tide open the season against Middle Tennessee on Sept. 2.

“Grandma Saban used to bake the best cakes in the world,” Saban said at the podium. “I used to stand by the oven when I was a kid and say ‘When’s this cake going to be done? When’s this cake going to be done?’”

The seven-time national championship-winning coach reminded the media that was gathered that they have to be patient, just like when a young Saban was ready for his grandmother’s cake.

This past offseason Alabama added former Notre Dame quarterback and offensive coordinator Tommy Rees to the staff to replace Bill O’Brien who opted to return to the NFL with the New England Patriots. Rees would also bring former Irish quarterback Tyler Buchner to shake up the quarterback situation.

As a whole the unit includes Buchner along with Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson, Dylan Lonergan, and Eli Holstein. Outside of Buchner, only Milroe has any significant playing time as he led Alabama to a win over Texas A&M when he filled in for an injured Bryce Young last season.

Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy believes that Simpson will eventually win the job, it seems like anyone’s guess at this point. Right now we just need to wait on this cake to finish baking.

Texas A&M Football Recruiting: several 2024 prospects recently placed the Aggies in their Top program lists

Texas A&M received much attention last week, as several 2024 prospects placed the Aggies among their top preferred programs lists.

Texas A&M’s 2024 recruiting class quite literally exploded (in a good way) in the last two weeks of June, as the now 13th-ranked class, according to 247Sports team rankings, adding the likes of WR Drelon Miller, OT Weston Davis, LB Tyanthony Smith, Edge Gabriel Reliford since Monday, and to kick off July, four-star wide receiver Jaylan Hornsby committed to Aggies on Saturday afternoon.

So far, 15 prospects, including two quarterbacks, three wide receivers, three offensive linemen, one tight end, two defensive linemen, one safety, and three, and yes, three blue-chip linebackers, which is certainly a sight for sore eyes for every Aggie fan reading this. With full steam ahead, Jimbo Fisher and his staff set their sights on several priority prospects, including five-star wide receiver prospects Terry Bussey and Cam Coleman, who remain slight favorites to land with the Aggies when all is said and done.

Last week amid the flurry of commitments, several blue-chip prospects in the 2024 cycle released their top program lists. By the looks of it, nothing is Fisher as July presents a litany of opportunities to continue this momentum ride. Here are five 2024 prospects who recently placed Texas A&M in their top program lists.

Home field advantage: Who was the most dominant at home in 2022?

These teams were the best at defending the home turf in 2022.

The game of college football has a massive following and a large part is due to the traditions and pageantry of the sport. Home games in college football are just at another level than we see around most of the NFL.

Sometimes they get a little too rambunctious, just look at the Tennessee vs Ole Miss game last year. Does anyone need some mustard?

Regardless of how that game turned out, there is just something about watching your favorite team at home. The rankings were determined by the team’s record at home and the average margin of victory in those games.

Best nonconference matchups of the 2023 college football season

The best 20 nonconference games of the 2023 season.

We are under 100 days to the college football season but who is counting anyway? Well, just about everyone is. Teams are gearing up to make a run at the College Football Playoffs and end Georgia’s run of dominance. The Bulldogs are 29-1 over the last two seasons where they won the title in both.

Can anyone step up and prevent them from joining the Minnesota Golden Gophers in college football immortality? Minnesota won three straight titles in the early to mid-1930s. A feat that has seems impossible to repeat, until now. Almost a century later, we could be witnessing history.

Before we get to the CFP, there is plenty more that needs to be addressed. Teams have fall camps, nonconference games, and the run to their respective conference championship games.

In their 100 storylines to follow, CBS Sports ranked the best 20 nonconference matchups of the 2023 college football season. Plenty of eyes will be on the likes of Alabama, Colorado, Texas, and Texas A&M, but who else should we be paying attention to ahead of conference play?

One notable matchup missing is the opening game of the season in Dublin, Ireland, where Notre Dame and Navy are set to meet on the gridiron. That game was among our must-see games in each week of the 2023 college football season.

Check out the list from CBS Sports:

Game One Recap: Baseball – Texas A&M vs Alabama

The Aggies go yard six times to blast past Alabama in game one win

The Aggies appear to be hitting their stride as a complete team with five games left in the regular season. On Friday night, Texas A&M (30-20, 12-13 SEC) jumped out to an early series lead with an 11-5 win over Alabama (33-17, 11-14 SEC) on the back of the long ball.

Texas A&M scored early and often starting off with Brett Minnich hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the first for a 0-2 lead. Alabama put their first run on the board in the bottom of the second with a solo home run. Then in the third inning, Trevor Werner hit his first of three two-run home runs of the night extending the Aggies lead to 1-4.

Alabama tied it up a few innings later by hitting two home runs in the top of the fifth inning. Werner did not let go unanswered by going yard again in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead 6-4.

Freshman phenom Jace LaViolette added another run with a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth and Werner followed that up with his third two-run home run, pushing the lead to 9-4 with two innings left. Alabama got their last run off a throwing error trimming the lead by one.

It would not matter much as LaViolette hit his second home run of the night a few batters before a Jack Moss RBI single scored the final run in the game giving Texas A&M the game-one victory.

The Aggies are back to hitting the ball again and the pitching was pretty solid overall. Friday’s win gave them 30 wins on the season and pulled them one game closer to hitting the .500 in SEC play. A win in game two would also lock up their sixth SEC series win giving them a boost of confidence heading into the SEC tournament at the end of the regular season.

Final Score: Aggies 11, Tide 5 – W: Aschenbeck, Evan (7-1); L: Holman Luke (6-3) S: Garica, Brandyn (1) 

Game two will be at 12 pm on Saturday, May 13th.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on Twitter: @whosnextsports1

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These five teams have the easiest path to the playoffs in 2023

Which contenders have the easiest path to the CFP in 2023? CSW breaks down five teams who have a great shot based on the schedule.

When it comes to getting to the College Football Playoffs, some teams have easier paths than others.

This will change in the 2024 season when the field expands to 12 teams, giving all five power conferences an automatic bid for champions. Six more teams will have at-large bids and the highest-ranked Group of Five team will also get their ticket punched to the new-look playoff.

However, this upcoming season it will be the top four teams heading to the annual tournament. Last season it was two Big Ten teams, one from the SEC, and one from the Big 12 battling it out for the trophy. It was the Georgia Bulldogs who reigned supreme for the second straight season.

Following the completion of spring football and the second transfer portal window now closed, we take a look at our easiest path to the playoffs in 2023.

This is just the beginning with ‘suspicious wagering activity’

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

When reports surfaced that the Ohio Casino Control Commission was looking into suspicious wagering activity, many wondered if this was a one-time event or just the tip of the iceberg. It appears that it is the latter.

The probe into the suspicious wagering activity ended with the firing of Alabama baseball head coach, Brad Bohannon.

“Alabama director of athletics Greg Byrne announced he has initiated the termination process for head baseball coach Brad Bohannon for, among other things, violating the standards, duties, and responsibilities expected of University employees,” said Alabama in a press release. “Bohannon has been relieved of all duties and Jason Jackson will serve as the interim head coach. There will be no further comment at this time pending an ongoing review.”

It wouldn’t be long before we saw more reports surface about teams being investigated. On Monday, two more schools were reportedly dealing with investigations stemming from wagers being made. In the state of Iowa, both Power Five schools were reporting violations.

The Iowa Hawkeyes provided information on their potential violations through a press release.

The University of Iowa and the Department of Athletics are aware of the sports wagering investigation and are fully cooperating. We have alerted the NCAA of the potential violations and we have hired outside counsel to assist in the investigative process.

The athletics department provides education on NCAA rules regarding the the prohibition of sports wagering as well as the potential consequences.

According to the release, the university received information on 111 individuals. That number included 26 student-athletes across baseball, football, men’s basketball, men’s track and field, and men’s wresting. One individual is a full-time employee of the UI Department of Athletics.

Iowa State released a statement on Monday afternoon as well.

“Iowa State University and its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is aware of online sports wagering allegations involving approximately 15 of our active student-athletes from the sports of football, wrestling and track & field in violation of NCA rules. The university has notified the NCAA and will take the appropriate actions to resolve these issues.”

NCAA rules prohibit athletes, coaches and staff from betting on amateur, collegiate and professional sports in which the NCAA conducts a championship.

What remains to be seen is how the NCAA will handle any punishments for all parties involved. One thing you can be sure of, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Post spring composite rankings have Georgia, Michigan at the top

Check out where your favorite team ranks in the composite spring rankings.

Heading into the 2023 college football season, most of the headlines will involve the Big Ten and SEC conferences. In our composite rankings, those two conferences make up the top five. Overall, the Pac-12 had the second most teams appear.

Here is the full breakdown of teams by conference:

SEC 8
Pac-12 6
Big Ten 5
Big 12 5
ACC 3
G5/Independents 4

The four polls that make up the post-spring football composite rankings:

Using the four polls we had ties at the No. 3, No. 12, No. 21, No. 27, and No. 30 spots among the teams listed. The full post-spring rankings are listed below, ties listed in alphabetical order.

Ohio sports books ban betting on Alabama baseball games

That’s a new one.

This is a pretty wild story.

According to a report from ESPN, Ohio Casino Control Commission has prohibited any bets being accepted that involve the Alabama Crimson Tide baseball steam.

Ohio gambling regulators on Monday instructed the state’s licensed sportsbooks to halt betting on college baseball games involving Alabama after suspicious wagering activity was detected on the Crimson Tide’s game against top-ranked LSU on Friday.

The directive, issued by Ohio Casino Control Commission executive director Matthew T. Schuler and obtained by ESPN, prohibits “the acceptance of any wagers on the University of Alabama baseball effective immediately.

The Crimson Tide had a three-game series over the weekend against the No. 1 LSU Tigers. The Bayou Bengals won all three games but they were all high-scoring affairs.

LSU held a 8-2 lead on Friday night before Alabama rallied for four runs in the 9th before their comeback bid fell short, 8-6. On Saturday, the game was much closer until a barrage of LSU runs ended any chance for a Tide upset win. LSU trailed 7-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth. The Tigers scored eight runs over the next three innings for the 12-8 win. In the series finale, LSU earned a sweep with the 13-11 win.

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For more Alabama coverage, visit Roll Tide Wire. 

For more LSU coverage, visit LSU Tigers Wire.

2023 NFL draft: Best situations for top Alabama Crimson Tide prospects

A.J. Spurr of Roll Tide Wire helps CSW break down the best NFL situations for the top four Alabama draft prospects.

The 2023 NFL draft is less than two weeks away and it will be here before you know it. College Sports Wire sat down with Roll Tide Wire editor A.J. Spurr to discuss the best situations at the next level for top Alabama prospects.

The biggest conversation surrounding the draft has been where do we project star quarterback Bryce Young. He is viewed as the best passer in the draft but being the best doesn’t always equate to being selected No. 1 overall. While some question his size, Young can flat-out play.

Spurr helps us tackle the best situations for Young, Will Anderson, Brian Branch, and Jahmyr Gibbs.