Tag: Alabama Crimson Tide

Tua Tagovailoa is back home in Tuscaloosa

Less than week after enduring a season ending injury and undergoing hip surgery in Houston, Texas, Tua Tagovailoa is back in Tuscaloosa.

On Thursday morning, less than week after enduring a season ending injury and undergoing hip surgery in Houston, Texas, Alabama star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has arrived back in Sweet Home Alabama.

Tagovailoa tweeted earlier this week that he was hoping to be back in Tuscaloosa for Saturday’s game against Western Carolina.

There’s no doubt that there will be a LOUD round of applause not only for the seniors for Senior Day on Saturday, but for Tagovailoa, who might’ve just played his last game for the Crimson Tide last weekend.

BAMA BEAT: College Football Pick ‘Em, Week 13 (Ep. 271)

Cecil Hurt, Clint Lamb and Hunter Johnson team up to discuss all the major college football games for Week 13 of the regular season.

Cecil Hurt and Clint Lamb, through TideSports.com and The Tuscaloosa News, produce a podcast called “The ‘Bama Beat”, which features all the latest news and analysis surrounding the Alabama Crimson Tide.

In this episode, Hurt and Lamb team up with Hunter Johnson to discuss all the major college football games for Week 13 of the regular season, including Ohio State-Penn State, Georgia-Texas A&M and more!

Through 12 weeks, Hurt leads with a 69-48-3 record, while Lamb (58-59-3) and Johnson (55-62-3) trail by multiple games.

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Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson brags on Tua Tagovailoa

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson reached out to Tua Tagovailoa to share advice and encouragement as he recovers from surgery.

As Tua Tagovailoa continues to recover from a successful hip surgery after dislocating his hip during last Saturday’s matchup against Mississippi State, many players, fans, coaches, celebrities, and even NFL players have reached out to Tua to send their love, prayers, and encouragement.

Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson, who also happens to be a friend of Tagovailoa, not only shared advice with Tua in a video on Twitter, but he also bragged on Tagovailoa’s talent and ability as a quarterback.

“You know the guy works so hard, you know, coming back from injury. Guy plays tough as nails, you know, just playing through everything, his ankle and all that stuff. He’s been such a great college quarterback. He’s going to be great in the NFL, too. He’s going to be a star in the NFL. I really believe that…..He’s got the right composure, the demeanor, great faith, just great talent. A lot of great things about, and he’s a winner. End of the day, he’s a winner. He knows how to win. He’s been in a NFL-type offense. So you know he’ll get a chance.”

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Watch: Calvin Ridley on why he came to Alabama and spurned Miami

Calvin Ridley was supposed to end up with Miami. But after visiting Alabama, he couldn’t help but want to be a part of the Tide’s culture.

Calvin Ridley is considering one of the best wide receivers in Alabama history. The Coconut Creek (Fla.) native sits near the top of several career and single-season records, which includes:

  • Career receptions: No. 2 (224)
  • Single season receptions: No. 2 (89)
  • Career receiving yards: No. 3 (2,781)
  • Single season receiving yards: No. 5 (1,045)
  • Career receiving TDs: No. 5 (19)

Those numbers put Ridley in a pretty elite group, which includes Amari Cooper, Julio Jones and several other high-profile Alabama receivers. But it’s also strange to think that it almost didn’t happen.

The video below is from actually from an interview between Ridley and Campus Lore, and it occurred in June of 2018. But after watching the former Crimson Tide standout’s response, we had to do a story on it!

[jwplayer AIcgsldP-er0jUifI]

It’s hard to believe that the Ridley-Alabama marriage almost didn’t come to fruition, but fans have to be thrilled with how things turned out. It also speaks volumes for the Crimson Tide’s ability to recruit high-profile, especially once they are on campus.

To have a player of Ridley’s caliber — he was rated as a five-star prospect, according to the 247Sports composite rankings — willing to commit on the spot is an incredible story.

With Alabama more than likely losing a least two of its top three receivers, depending on who decides to leave early for the NFL draft between Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III and DeVonta Smith, following the 2019 season, the coaching staff needs to be identifying that next elite receiver to pair with Jaylen Waddle for 2020.

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How does Tua Tagovailoa’s injury impact the future of college athletics?

USA TODAY Sports’ Larry Berger and Former NBPA Executive Director discuss how Tua Tagovailoa’s injury will impact the future of college athletics.

USA TODAY Sports’ Larry Berger and Former NBPA Executive Director discuss how Tua Tagovailoa’s injury will impact the future of college athletics.

Week 13 CFP Bubble Watch: Georgia’s resume is legit

With just three weeks left in the college football season, let’s look at the resumes for those still in College Football Playoff contention.

Welcome back to the Bubble Watch. If you’ve been reading through my Eliminator articles, you’d know that I still count 12 teams with a shot at reaching the College Football Playoff. (And if you haven’t been reading them, please feel free to go back to them.)

Now that teams have played enough games, we can get a real look at every team’s resume. So, for the 12 teams still alive, I am going to present all of the resumes to you. We’re going to look at every resume so that we can compare what positives and negatives each team has. It’s the easiest and best way to understand what each team is bringing to the table in the College Football Playoff discussion.

How this works

Let’s go over what I’m looking at and why.

Quality of wins

For the purposes of determining quality wins, things like Top 10 and Top 25 are arbitrary numbers that do more harm than good. There is no reason the gap between No. 25 and No. 26 is considered significantly larger than the gap between No. 24 and No. 25. Therefore, to counteract this, I am being very lenient as to who is considered Top 10 or Top 25. Any team in the Top 25 of one of the major polls (CFP, AP, or Amway Coaches), or in a significant number of the accepted computer rankings, will be considered in the Top 25 for resume purposes. This leads to the awkwardness of having more than 25 “Top 25″ teams, but it presents a more accurate picture of the overall resume. Moreover, it just makes sense. The committee is aware of who is a good team and what counts as a win of decent quality, even if that team didn’t quite make it into the rankings.

I also split up every game each team has played into different groups. The groupings are important. First of all, I focus on Top 10 and Top 25 wins. These are, obviously, the quality wins. Next, I’m looking for teams in the Top 40. These are solid wins and deserve respect. The next group is teams somewhere between 41st and 80th in FBS. These are mediocre teams–they are games that any Playoff contender should win, but could in theory lose on an off day. Everyone outside the Top 80 is a complete cupcake game, and should be valued as a negative. To determine where each team is and who is outside the Top 80, I use a collection of computer rankings that focus on different things (e.g. Sagarin and Anderson) to get broad perspectives on who is a cupcake and who isn’t.

The selection committee has consistently mentioned “wins over teams with winning records” as an important metric over the past few years, so I’m going to show that to you. It is a less detailed way to view a win than looking at where each win is ranked, but the committee seems to care about it so we have to. I will not count a win over an FCS team as a +.500 win, regardless of record. Again, even though the metric is a stupid one–there are cupcakes with +.500 records (for example, Buffalo or Western Kentucky)–the committee cares about it, so we have to as well.

Offensive and defensive performance

I include the rankings in yards per play of each team. On one hand, the resume focuses on which teams you have beaten, so I stick to only identifying the quality of wins and losses and show you each contender’s remaining games. On the other hand, the committee “watches teams play,” which is really not a quantifiable statistic, but something that we can at least try to get a bearing on. Still, it’s hard to find an offensive or defensive metric that accurately represents all teams and styles of play.
Some metrics will over-value “air raid” type offenses while some will prefer more consistent, but less explosive, gameplans. The rank in offensive and defensive yards per play gives a basic metric of how efficient and/or consistent a team is on both sides of the ball.

SOS range

The SOS range is taken from numerous computer rankings. Ranges can be quite large, especially as different rankings favor different things. They do, however, give a decent picture of the possibilities of how strong the schedule actually is. Keep in mind, it’s still a little early in the season, so the different SOS methodologies could bring up radically different results. Ranges could still be wide in some cases, but in general they should narrow over the next few weeks.

Next… Teams that control their own destinies

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Ohio State second most dominant team of 21st Century according to USA TODAY’s Paul Myerberg

USA TODAY’s Paul Myerberg selected the Ohio State football program as the 2nd most dominant team of the 21st Century.

Several news outlets are doing pieces on some of the most iconic teams, players, and moments in the history of college football during this 150 year anniversary of the sport, and USA TODAY is no different. It has rolled out several pieces, and the latest is a video segment by national writer Paul Myerberg.

He discusses the top three most dominant teams of college football during the 21st Century. For those math and historical wizards out there, that would mean from the year 2000 up until this year.

Of course Ohio State is in the running, and Myerberg labels the Buckeyes as the second most dominant team, just in front of the Clemson Tigers. Here’s what he says about OSU’s run.

“They’ve won two national championships since 2000 — one under Jim Tressel, one more recently under Urban Meyer. But every year since 2000, they’ve been good, at the baseline, good. Sometimes they’ve been great, they’ve been awesome. Every year though, unlike a lot of teams in the country, and a lot of other teams in contention to be the best team of this 21st Century — Ohio State, every year, pencil it in. Nine, ten, eleven, twelve wins.”

Of course you know what team Myerberg picked as the most dominant team of the Century, it’s none other than Alabama, and it’s hard to argue against.

You can click on the below yourself shared by the Twitter feed of USA TODAY Sports and listen to his rationale for picking all three.

ESPN’s Molly McGrath kept America informed on Tua Tagovailoa

When Tua Tagovailoa didn’t immediately get up after being tackled by two defenders during last Saturday’s matchup against Mississippi State, ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath knew something was wrong, seriously wrong. That’s when she knew what …

When Tua Tagovailoa didn’t immediately get up after being tackled by two defenders during last Saturday’s matchup against Mississippi State, ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath knew something was wrong, seriously wrong. That’s when she knew what she had to do.

“Tua went down closer to the Mississippi State side, so I crossed over to the other side of the field to just get a better vantage point to get closer, to try to hear what the trainers were saying to him, to look into Tua’s eyes and see the pain that he was in, and just try and figure out what is the injury.”

Molly McGrath, who was a guest on the Dan Patrick show earlier this week, immediately sprang into action to gather the news as to why one of, if not the best quarterback in college football, wasn’t getting up.

“There was concern at first, like what’s going on with his face? Why is he bleeding from his face? And he had a towel covering his face and they kept that on his face longer than needed, and I could see it was because he was crying. Because he was kind of balling in pain. So I knew he was in serious pain.”

Nov 16, 2019; Starkville, MS, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (13) assisted by team personnel after an injury during the second quarter of the game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium. Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

McGrath, who has worked for ESPN since 2016, did an outstanding job not only gathering information regarding Tagovailoa, but she did a phenomenal job in her delivery. There were only a few minutes Tua’s injury, and her sideline report update.

Personally, I am mostly impressed with her passion and perseverance. While some reporters might have waited on an inside source to provide ESPN the news, she gathered the news herself. So much so, she sprinted across the field to follow Tua.

“I knew it was crucial that I be there when they take him off the cart because I need to see how he got of the cart. If he was able to put weight on his right leg, or the right side of his body, or if he had to be carried. So the cart goes down the field and I sprinted the length of the field from the 10 though the other end zone basically………That was the crucial moment where I witnessed he couldn’t get off the cart on his own. Medical training staff had to pick him up and carry him almost like a child. And when they picked him up, that’s when he screaming in pain and then they brought him into the X-ray room.”

Nov 16, 2019; Starkville, MS, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (13) is carted off the field due to an injury during the second quarter of the game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium. Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

McGrath went on to share in the interview with Dan Patrick, that an inside source confirmed it was indeed his hip and not his ankle.

Had McGrath not sprang into action, not only would rumors and speculations have popped all around social media, but it could’ve been much longer before an official word was released. McGrath did an excellent job not only finding out exactly what happened to Tagovailoa in a very punctual time frame, she also did a fantastic job keeping America up to date with Tua’s status the rest of the game.

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Najee Harris will carry this Alabama team to the CFB Playoff

With Najee Harris, there’s no doubt that Alabama is more than equipped than ever to not only win games, but make it to the CFB Playoff.

When you look at the Alabama Crimson Tide’s offense under Nick Saban, historically, they’ve been a dominant running team who has produced many NFL caliber running backs such as Mark Ingram, Glen Coffee, Derrick Henry, and TJ Yeldon to name a few.

But since the end of the 2017 season, Alabama’s running game has taken somewhat of a backseat to Alabama’s passing game. But it’s not a shock. When you have a quarterback like Tua Tagovailoa under center, it’s natural to see a team transition to more of a passing team rather than a “run first” team.

In 2017, when Jalen Hurts was still the starting quarterback, Alabama rushed for 3,509 off of 612 attempts. Less than a year later in 2018 with Tagovailoa under center, Alabama had 2,976 yards off of 571 carries. So far in 2019, Alabama only has 326 carries for 1,627 yards. That’s 1,882 less yards than the 2017 season.

Although Alabama has continued to win games with more yards coming through the air rather than on the ground, with the Crimson Tide in the position they’re in without Tagovailoa in as quarterback, the running game will no doubt be a major focus for the Crimson Tide for the rest of the season.

When Mac Jones started for Alabama against Arkansas at the end of October after Tagovailoa injured his ankle in the Tennessee game, it was the first time we truly saw what this offense was capable of regarding the rushing game, especially with Najee Harris.

Harris, who had 783 rushing yards last season, currently has 876 yards rushing so far, 425 of which have come since the first half of the Tennessee game when Tagovailoa went down. Najee was one of the players who stepped up when Tagovailoa went down.

What does this mean for the Crimson Tide?

We will no doubt see more of a traditional offense from the Crimson Tide. Although we will see Mac Jones throw several deep bombs and quick slants like he did against Arkansas, we will see this Alabama offense become more conservative and traditional, with more of a “run first” mindset.

With Najee Harris and Brian Robinson Jr. in the backfield, there’s no doubt this Alabama offense is more than equipped than ever to not only win games, but help their team have another chance to make the College Football Playoff.

After all, this team has a new reason to do whatever it takes to win: Tua.

Alabama Football: Week 11 “NFL Freaks Of The Week”

NFL Freaks of the Week is a weekly poll on the Alabama football twitter account

The “NFL Freaks of the Week” is a weekly poll on the Alabama football twitter account, that lets fans vote for an NFL offensive and defensive freak of the week from the previous week’s matchups. 

Last week, Derrick Henry and Minkah Fitzpatrick were the Freaks of the week.

Let’s see who the fans voted for this week! 

Offensively, these were the four candidates twitter got to vote on:

Irv Smith | 3 catches, 20 yds, TD

Bo Scarbrough | 14 rushes, 55 yds, TD

Calvin Ridley | 8 catches, 143 yds, TD

Mark Ingram | 13 rushes, 48 yds, 3 catches, 37 yds, 2 TDs

WINNER: Calvin Ridley with 53% of the votes

And defensively, these were the four candidates that Twitter got to vote on:

Daron Payne | 5 tackles, PBU

Eddie Jackson | 6 tackles, forced fumble

Jarran Reed | 4 tackles, 1.5 sacks, PBU, forced fumble

HaHa Clinton-Dix | 7 tackles, fumble recovery

WINNER: Jarran Reed with 47% of the votes 

Which week 11 “freak” were you most impressed with?

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