There’s also a big storm a’coming. Batten down your hatches.
Rejoice, for this the day that we Gump.
Let us begin by hoping you and yours stay safe this weekend. Hurricane Isaias is nearing landfall somewhere between Mobile and Pensacola. It has hit 120 MPH — what was expected to be a “routine” Cat 2 storm, is now a mid-tier Cat 3, and is thus a “major” hurricane, as these things are reckoned. Be very safe, evacuate inland if you need to, stay off the roads if you don’t have a need, reserve phone lines and networks for first responders and those affected by the storm. You know the drill. Our prayers are with you, and we hope you, your loved ones, and your property make it out okay.
And to the gas stations out there price-gouging and raising water to $12.49 for a six pack and pumps to $5.34 + so as to profit from those fleeing the storm (as I saw this morning), a hearty fuck you from all of us at Thin Red Line. You are the most deplorable sorts of human effluvia — trafficking in panic, human misery, and loss. I may not believe in karma, but I do subscribe to its idiot cousin: what comes around goes around. Your reckoning will come, MFer. (Sorry for the language: I don’t drop the F-bomb on the main page (this is the first time ever, in fact), but some things need to be said, and my usual arsenal of ten-cent words just won’t do).
Now, let’s see what we have to discuss today.
ESPN Original’s Nick Saban docuseries began streaming last night, and by all accounts, it is wonderful. Here are a few clips from it to whet your whistle:
I think we know how it ended…
I will go to my absolute grave firm in the belief that before his hip injury, Tua was tracking to be a generational talent, on par with Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning — Until Keelon Russell, the best college quarterbacks I had seen in my life; and I believe he will add to that Rushmore.
How were those practices at Alabama? LOL. Let’s just say there’s a reason Alabama wasn’t and isn’t for everyone.
LOL. He’s still pissed at those reps.
Oh, gee, who could have predicted this? The (mostly) one-way transit of G5 and FCS players to major P4 programs has decimated the mid- and low-major clubs, resulting in a less competitive field than we’ve ever seen. We’ll likely never see another App State-Michigan upset, when all of your pesky Cindarellas can just be annihilated by writing a few checks.
In the aftermath of a close call against Oklahoma last month, New Mexico coach Jason Eck cracked a joke that could probably be considered gallows humor for every coach in the Group of Six. “Something I’m happy about is we got nine starters on defense who are seniors,” Eck said. “So all these SEC coaches will be seeing how good our defense is and they’ll look up all those guys they’d like to have play for them and they’re going to see they’re seniors. They have no eligibility left to transfer to the SEC next year.”
Eck’s assessment of the current environment in college football was hilariously on the nose. At a place like New Mexico, which has dominated its competition this year outside of that 14-6 loss to the Sooners, the reward for success is power conference programs poring over its film and looking for players they might be able to poach in the transfer portal.
But it’s also noticeable how so much roster churn has widened the talent gap between the 68 schools playing power conference football and everyone else, to the point where Group of Six programs sometimes look more like a feeder system than a competitive entity.
In 76 games played this season between the Power Four and the Group of Six, teams from the latter have won just three — a low point in the modern history of college football. But the disparity is even more jarring when you dig into the numbers. Of the 73 wins by power conference teams, only 21 were decided by 14 points or fewer while 27 of those games had a margin of five touchdowns or more. In 10 of those games, the Group of Six team didn’t manage to score a single point.
Ever since NIL, revenue sharing and unlimited transfers came to college sports, we have seen bits and pieces of evidence suggesting that Cinderella might be dying in the big-money sports of football and men’s basketball. On the heels of a March Madness tournament with no mid-majors in the Sweet 16 and a fairly large sample size on the gridiron this fall, it’s getting harder to deny the obvious.
Depressing, innit?
Is there little wonder then, that multiple teams are already cheating the CSC system to get around the revenue sharing cap, by signing athletes to sham third-party deals? If you did this with a real estate transaction, a so-called strawman purchase standing on either side of the ledger, you’d be in prison.
“The DOI is actively conducting multiple, longer-term investigations into potential cap evasion and NIL-related violations by institutions, student-athletes, and certain third parties. The CSC encourages anyone with relevant information to contact the DOI. Input from athletic department staff on recruiting practices, agent conduct, and questionable business proposals helps the CSC apply the rules fairly by bringing potential violations to light.”
Now comes the real test: whether the CSC will stand up in court. Because they almost certainly will drop the hammer on someone, and that someone (likely many someones) will go running and crying to Judge Slappy McSlapdick (OSU Class of ’78, OSU Law ’81) in a Columbus courtroom.
If the game still goes on, and it looks as though it will, Bryant Denny Stadium is likely to be great shape. Not only does the worst of the rain pass over by early afternoon, UA’s superb grounds crew has a secret weapon in the arsenal — water-draining technology from Augusta.
If they can get those notoriously fickle greens dry for a championship Sunday, they can handle a rectangle.
Not exactly a surprise, based on what we’ve seen out the Democratic caucus and the bipartisan arsonist contingent in the Carolinas and Florida, but their intent with the current PCSA sitting idle in the House is to hijack the bill, or just blow it up, unless they write-in a provision that amounts to little more than an ACC escape clause.
Last night, Alabama routed the visiting Furman Paladins to open the exhibition season for the 2026-2027 Crimson Tide. There were a lot of absences from the lineup (I counted seven), but the freshman class had a fantastic early showing:
Alabama signed six players to its freshman class and three of them faced the Paladins. The first-year trio of Tarris Bouie, Cole Cloer and Qayden Samuels each played for over half of the game and they all made a major impact during their unofficial collegiate debuts.
“Tarris ended up winning the Hard Hat for us tonight with his activity, led us in rebounds with eight,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during the postgame press conference. “He scored it, shoot, almost our leading scorer with 18.”
Every game and practice, Tide players are given a certain amount of non-scoreboard points for deflections, steals, blocks, rebounds and loose balls. Offensive rebounds, diving on the floor and drawing fouls are also methods of gaining blue-collar points. Whichever player tallies the most at the end of the day/night is rewarded with a construction worker hard hat. Pretty impressive that Bouie, who also swiped an absurd six steals, took it home in his first game against collegiate competition.
Oats said he was “pretty happy” with the offensive output from the freshmen, as they had “a lot of good moments” in heavy minutes. Cloer, who transferred from NC State after redshirting as an early enrollee, couldn’t have started his Crimson Tide career much better. Cloer scored nine points within his first 12 minutes of action and finished the night with 14 points on 4 of 10 from downtown.
And keep an eye on Cole Clouer too. He’s a great shooter, and if he can hit 40% consistently from the perimeter, this team just a helluva’ lot more dangerous.
But the star of the night had to be Garrison. The Kentucky Transfer was sitting at 13/3/2 by the half. His defense has always been elite. But now his three point shot has been unlocked, and Nate Oats calls him the “best passing big man he’s ever coached.” And Kentucky fans are already preemptively melting down. LOL.
Still, there were many Coachable Moments ™ to be had: the defense and rebounding were atrocious.
And, of course, because it’s Alabama basketball, there had to be a crippling preseason injury to a major player: Javon Richardson was a no-show tonight, and PG Anthony Diaz DNP with a broken hand, and he’s going to be out “at least a month.” Ugh.
But every day is crootin’ szn in Tuscaloosa. We’ve covered Maplesville’s Nehemiah McCary several times here. And, Josh as expected, with crootin’ season heating up, the homestate Tide lead with the nation’s No. 1 LB for the moment.
Josh has the regular media score/prediction post up now over at Roll ‘Bama Roll: Always fun to read what alleged journalists think of the upcoming games.
LOL. Imagine putting your money on Gunner Stockton in a QB duel:
Hummer (Georgia -1.5): For all of his success, Kirby Smart has struggled against Alabama. He’s just 2-7 against the Tide, including 1-2 head-to-head against Kalen DeBoer. This is a classic matchup between the two teams, too. The Bulldogs have an elite defense (No. 1 nationally in yards per play) to counter Alabama’s explosive playmakers and QB. But the difference is that the Bulldogs have been an elite offense so far. They’re third nationally in yards per play, and they have the pieces to attack an Alabama secondary that’s been up and down this season.
And, finally, your moment of levity…don’t step to his granny.
That’s it for now. We’ll be back in a bit with our Georgia preview, as well as tomorrows Viewing Guide.Until then, have a great morning, and take care.
Roll Tide.
Price Gouging During Disasters Is Actually a Good Thing https://share.google/Q4n8BFu6IfFoca44I
Interesting, I’ve never thought about it like that.
I think, as a general rule and as markets have borne out, the Austrians are full of shit 😂
But my concern isn’t an ideological objection to how hands-off we should be in economies, it’s a legal matter. Price gouging is a crime under Ala. Code 8-31-1, and it is almost never punished.
That young man lives by one principle…when in doubt, eff em up.
Only for granny*
Man, I’m sick to death of hearing how good the stats are on UGA’s offense and defense. The strength of schedule matters and skews the hell out of the numbers.
it’s even more appalling when you see the defense is only a smidge better in a few things, and Alabama’s is better in others, facing the 93rd ranked offensive schedule.
Their defense hasn’t even seen a functional offense yet, much less an elite one. And it sure as shit hasn’t seen anything like this one.