And it’s not for a bad reason either.
Rejoice, for this is the day that we Gump.
We managed, through great exertions, to scrape enough ‘Bama tar heroin off the foil so as mainline it right into your arms and give you a daily dose of the Crimson Tide. We’re like Seattle, but without open defecation on the streets. We charge extra for that.
Let’s dive in:
Oh, goodness. Won’t someone think of the coonasses?! Forced to play just six night games instead of getting a seventh or eighth.
That’s it, Lane. The Mouse conspired with the SEC to deprive you — and only you — of your preferred kickoff time. Give me an ever-loving break, Nancy boy.
Lane’s act is also wearing thin with me too.
You don’t get to lean into your villain era then whine like a pissbaby that you’re the aggrieved party the second something is not to your liking. LSU has unleashed his inner nepo baby colliding with a midlife crisis, and I think I speak for everyone outside of Baton Rouge when I say I can’t stand it.
For the first time since Nick Saban’s inaugural year with the Tide, ‘Bama is an underdog in Baton Rouge. File this one under the “glaringly obvious” category:
Alabama is currently a 3.5-point underdog for next week’s game at LSU, according to a spread posted Wednesday by DraftKings sports book.
It would mark the first time since 2007 that Alabama has been an underdog in its annual game against LSU, which will end after this season. Alabama does not play LSU again until 2028.
Even when they’ve left college, ‘Bammers find a niche in dominating the Dawgs. Check out madman Tyler Booker shutting down and smacking around Jalen Carter, of all players.
Yesterday was the SEC coaches’ teleconference, and Lane was smooching so much backside, that you’d swear Nick Saban was still there. Call it poor-mouthing, gaslighting, rat poison, it was all the same thing: elevating the Tide through praise while downplaying his own (considerably) talented team.
Kiffin is a troll at heart. He just can’t help himself. And on Wednesday’s SEC Coaches’ Teleconference, the LSU head coach did his best to provide an early dose of rat poison to Kalen DeBoer and Alabama.
“Getting ready for the most talented team we’ve played, as you really look at it,” Kiffin said. “When you combine offense and defense, these guys really are loaded, look like the old Alabama teams. Really long, fast receivers. Really special, unique defensive players. So, this is gonna be a really big challenge for us to prepare really well and play really well.”
Kiffin didn’t stop there, further pouring on the praise for the Crimson Tide, particularly on the defensive side of the ball:
“Remind me of old Alabama defenses and guys who can make plays on the ball and length and twitch. And to be honest, I was hoping they probably weren’t this good. So, that’s gonna be really challenging because we really have not played a defense like that this year, no disrespect to the other defenses. But these 11 guys look different than the other teams we’ve played.”
A masterclass that would even make Lou Holtz proud.
Given Alabama’s needs at wideout this year, and particularly absent RCW1, we’ve all been wondering where Noah Rogers is at? The NC State gamechanger has damn near been MIA. DeBoer did address that:
“Noah’s done a really good job coming along in the practices. I think a lot of it is just the other guys that are also – or have taken steps forward throughout the course of the season. Rico showed up in a big way this last weekend, and he’s been pretty consistent both as a receiver and as a blocker,” DeBoer said.
“I think also just personnel grouping and things like that, with what we’ve done with more tight ends. There’s less reps for the wide receivers. We really think highly of Noah. He’s a really good football player, and we want to find ways to incorporate him into the offense on a higher level with more opportunities, but that always means that you’re taking someone else off the field as well.”
I’ve been going through every game’s play by play for a different project, and I think the tight end grouping has the most to do with it.
Alabama is playing with extra tights on 59% of its snaps. That’s a far cry more than last year, when the Tide was 3rd in the SEC and played an extra TE on 31% of snaps. Unlike the wideout room, the tight end corps is very deep and they all do different things — Ford is the tone-setter, Kaleb is the redzone terror, Pritchett is the all-purpose hybrid “pass catcher,” etc.
More than anything, I suspect this has played into the lack of PT for Rogers. And with Lottie and an emergent Rico, there just aren’t a whole lot of places for a third or fourth wideout on a majority of plays. Still, you’d love to find more time on the field for him, and the extremely talented Cederian Morgan.
Rogers’ absence hasn’t been for a bad reason (depending on how you feel about tight ends), but since we celebrate the trenches here, we’re not entirely broken up about more time on the field for those guys.
This is a rumor that start circulating last year, and it’s heating up more as Lincoln Riley is increasingly under duress of his own making: Kalen DeBoer to USC.
Kalen DeBoer to USC (13). Trojans athletic director Jennifer Cohen hired DeBoer at Washington in 2022, to the mutual benefit of both. DeBoer went 25–3 in two seasons, taking the Huskies to the 2023 CFP championship game. This reunion opportunity would be an upgrade over Riley for USC and get DeBoer out of the permanent shadow of Nick Saban at Alabama.
He has a 26–10 record to date at Bama—good in most locales, but this is a different place. That exact mark got Bill Curry run out of town in 1989, bailing to Kentucky. There are differences between DeBoer’s 26–10 and Curry’s 26–10—Curry was 0–3 against Auburn, for instance, whereas DeBoer is 2–0—but it’s still well short of Saban-esque.
If you don’t leave for Michigan, if the lights of Tuscaloosa are too bright, what on earth makes a notoriously cynical Los Angeles market a better fit? Alabama fans get angry; they live and die with every snap. But, dammit, they care, so they will still reliably put butts in seats, no matter how stinky the team. But several bad losses at USC like he suffered here, and a far worse fate would befall him: Fans would simply stop showing up. And it’s not the losing that gets you fired in this game; it’s losing so often or so badly than fan apathy takes hold and the program starts to bleed attendance and cash.
He famously said last year, “You don’t leave Alabama.” And, true to his word, he renewed his contract. I’ll take him at his word on this, especially since only now is the roster mostly rounding into what he wants it to look like (offensive line excepted). Bedsides, does he really want to rebuild an air raid team into a motion-based, pro spread team and spend another three or four years doing so? I doubt it.
CBS Sports did a cool thought experiment, as we approach the first CFP rankings: Measure them by the old BCS formula. And, using that criteria, where does Alabama stand?
10. In the group of two-loss SEC teams, the Crimson Tide — like the others — can control their own CFP destiny by winning out this season. That’s anything but simple, by the way, considering they travel to LSU on Nov. 7 and host Auburn in the Iron Bowl on Nov. 28. However, unlike a few others in the SEC ranked inside this top 15, Alabama does have a schedule more favorable than most. The lone ranked win for the Crimson Tide remains Kentucky since the blowout of Mississippi State a few weeks back hasn’t aged well.
‘Bama is still third on the BCS ledger, behind UGA and Kentucky. But, that mirrors the actual SEC standings, so there’s not too much to grouse about when you lose two SEC games before Halloween.
This was what I worried would happen when they lost Kamario for the season: They’d end up being an albatross on our strength of schedule. The team we beat on the road was better than the team that’s getting beaten while headless.
As opposed to what? Indiana’s gifted win over Northwestern?
So can you tell me why AK Dear isn’t getting reps because that one is baffling to me given he was so far ahead at the end of camp.
This is a good question. My thought would be the other guys just caught up and passed him up while he was injured.
KDB just said the same ole’ thing “He’s getting better in practice” Whatever that means. I take it to mean he’s not mentally processed the pass blocking yet in an expanded playbook
Grubb: “Becauuuuuuuse, um… Look at that! We’re going deep again!”
Quick question, and it might just be me, but I can only find articles like this one by going through Medium directly. I know things are still being smoothed out, but curious if anyone else is noticing the same thing.
Happens to me fairly often as well. Today this article showed up on TRL.
I’m having the same issue. When I log in to comment I also loose the article but found I can use the search and find it. But the article typically does not show up on the front page or the section pages.
@Ikepigot, any idea why this is an issue for some?
I’m on a desktop PC, Windows, and I typically use DuckDuckGo for my browser. I’ll try chrome and see if I have the same issue.
And?
Sorry, work called. Bastards!
Chrome worked great. I think it is a duck issue.
That is really odd. I’ve heard of people getting logged out without realizing it, but not articles “disappearing”
Makes me wish I were a real code monkey.
This is likely related to the Dump Cache error that we had with Go Daddy last month. I’ll refresh the J News plugin, then email the IT bro.
He’s so proud of that photoshop.
Thank you. I’ll email him.
That is so very odd. It’s usually a cache issue on your browser. We had a dump cache problem about a month ago too. I can call the IT bro and see if that’s causing it too.
Clearing the cache in my Chrome browser appears to have fixed the issue. The recent Gump Dump articles now show up on the dashboard on the main site. Appreciate the help!
I had the same issue, at least on my phone. I thought I’d saved the main page as bookmark in Safari, but it didn’t update. I finally seemed to bookmark the “right” front page early last week, things seem ok now.
works fine for me with chrome
I think it’s people with full caches, TBH
I agree that KDB to USC(w) makes little sense and is extremely improbable. Nevertheless, I’ll pose the same question here that I posed yesterday over on RBR: in the unfortunate and extremely unlikely event it did happen, who are you (realistically) hiring to replace him?
To my mind, this is an exercise that highlights just how delusional is the (small but vocal) segment of our fanbase that wants him gone.
I don’t think there’s anyone that would make fans happy, TBH, short of prying Kirby out of Georgia.
Not anyone who’s won as much, that is affordable, and that would come in any case. Who are you taking? Cig as a short term deal? Hope this is finally the place Franklin can win a natty? Hope Lanning stops shitting the bed? Pray Chesney or Stein aren’t a flash in the pan? Get Kiffin to grow up?
There is no Plan B that is a better alternative, ya’ know?
Of the options, I would probably lean Cig (IF we could get him – I lean “yes”, but it’s a soft lean). Would be worth it just for the IU fan meltdown that would ensue, if nothing else!
Short of that, Chesney or Glenn Schumann. Both are very unproven, and it’s a toss-up who is the bigger risk (Chesney has 3 seasons as an FBS head coach, but only 1 as P4; Schumann has no HC experience but a decade as an SEC assistant). But I’d prefer either to the other unproven options, and (aside from Cig) the “proven” guys have all proven they have a ceiling.
Indiana offense looks like ass this year,
Would you even notice Schumann is he hadn’t fetched coffee for Saban?
I think Bob Chesney is a damn good football coach but the sample size is very small
Yep. Defense looks solid thoough, and it’s clear the guy knows how to build a program. I’m not arguing he’d be an upgrade from CKD, but he’d probably be a better bet than any of the alternatives.
I mean the dude has been DC at UGA for 5+ years, one of the best defenses in the nation over that span (though it’s fair to ask how much of that is Schumann and how much is Kirbs). So yeah, I think I’d notice him. Which isn’t the same thing as saying I’d be eager to hand him the keys to the kingdom. But in a world where they’re aren’t really many proven options, I’d say he’s at least worthy of consideration.
Bingo! HARD agree on BOTH counts! My gut says if we’re having this convo in 2-3 years, he’s the overwhelming best choice. But we just don’t have enough data to be sure at this point.
And ya’ know, come to think of it, we DID do pretty dang well the last time we hired a Coal-Country Catholic… 😉
I’m of the very strong opinion that being a coordinator does not cultivate the skills to be a successful head coach. Huge parts of coaching success revolve around managing the roster and staff, not digging into the minutiae of opposing scheme and matchups.
Kirby is the outlier in that he jumped from coordinator directly to high level P4 success. Most of the really successful coaches get experience at small school before taking a big time job.
Coaches need a stint running a small organization to work out the kinks before moving up to a bigger program with bigger expectations.
It only makes sense. Pilots don’t take their first solo flight in a B-52. You gotta wn races in karts and F2000 before Ferrari gives you a seat in Formula 1
Wish more people got this. Their are a few other examples of guys making the jump and having some degree of success (Jimbo, Lanning, and potentially Stein and Golding – wake me up in three years and we’ll see). But for every one of those, you can find a dozen Jim McElwains and Mike Locksleys.
Schumann has, what? Like 2-3 years at DC for Kirby? And not even their dominant heyday — the years they’ve come up short.
Hard pass.
ICBR, but I though he took over when Lanning left for Oregon. They were nominally co-coordinators, but nobody really believed it. And yeah, not as dominant as they once were, but a fair bit of that is probably NIL/TP killing the depth.
Didn’t PAAAAAWWWWLLLL’s dumb ass say last year if Deboer had left for Meetchicken, the plan was to hire Drinky Pete?
Paaaawwwwlll is an idiot of the highest order too though
I hadn’t heard that, but surely if so he’s wrong. Ick!
There is NO FUCKING WAY that would 1. Happen, 2. Be okay with Bama fans.
I didn’t say I believed him, I think he’s full of shit, especially for him being a Vawl
Will Muschamp since apparently our fanbase wants a real commitment to the run.
I too want a commitment to the run. But I more want to not waste the talent already on this roster.
this is my stock reply now for everyone that wants to fire DeBoer because he doesnt run the ball enough.
Hell hire RichRod. I love watching the gun veer triple thing he runs. Its freaking awesome to watch
It has been fun to watch for 20 years. No one has completely cracked the code yet either.
He’s so soft and cuddly, that we’ll eat him alive eventually when Byrne can no longer suck the dick of a guaranteed 3-loss coach. Now picture his tissue-soft ass in LA traffic.
I always liked the 2:30/3:30 kickoff. Get some stuff done during the day, watch the game, then enjoy a celebratory libation while the night games are on.
It’s a great time TBH. You can get the tailgate or have folks over. Not too early. Not too late. Usually great weather too.
It’s definitely my favorite window as a viewing fan (and I voted accordingly), though I don’t mind an 11:00 AM kick for “lesser” games. But I do think prime time maximizes homefield advantage, so at the abstract level I would favor that for home games.
Somewhat related note – how much have the PTB ruined our sport that I’m actually nostalgic for Gary Danielson? Simply because I have a Pavlovian association of him (and Verne) with the “Good Ole Days”.
I much prefer Verne or Ness (and Jenny Dell!) and Garys blathering over Shouting Joe and Brain Damaged Jesse fumbling their way through our games.
Kiffin is just a born sociopath. Period, the end. His own mom said he’s been like that since he was a child. A sneaky little monster.