these people are smoking crack


[font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 16 - Alabama [/font]

[font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 17 - Boston College [/font][font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 18 - Boise State [/font][font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 19 - Arizona St. [/font][font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 20 - Auburn [/font][font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 21 - Texas Tech [/font][font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 22 - Virginia [/font][font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 23 - Pittsburgh [/font][font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 24 - UTEP [/font][font=arial,hevetica,san-serif]No. 25 - Georgia Tech [/font]




Who will be next?

http://www.athlonsports.com/section_id/7/

Some of these magazines just list certain teams...

in the hope that it will boost sales in certain states. How any writer with a pea for a brain and any football knowledge at all can list Bama in the top 20 next season is beyond explanation. Last year's Bama team had much more depth and struggled to win 6 games. In fact, the only way Bama even qualified to go to a bowl at all is because they counted their win over D1AA Western Carolina to finish at 6-6.

Bama is going to have one Hell of a time finding offensive linemen next year.
Bama llost 3 OL starters and simply doesn't haveadequate replacements for them and is also very thin regarding their OL depth. Then there is the RB situation where the best Bama RB has been struggling trying to recover from a hip injury. In addition, Brodie Croyle is trying to recover from injuries as well and he hasn't completed a football season at QB since he arrived at Bama.

16th? That is ridiculous.

Re: Some of these magazines just list certain teams...

naw c you allz got it so wrongz

bama an browdi crow iz gonna pounze all ova evry team but elllessshoooo

da elleshoo win againstt bama gona loowk like a gym, a diyamond of a victry!

bama also gona whoop dat war chickenz tails all ova da field!

Re: Some of these magazines just list certain teams...

their qb and their running back are healthy again.. thats worth 2 wins at least.. so take the 6 from last year, add 2, you get an 8-3 record.. thats plenty for a top 25..

Re: Some of these magazines just list certain teams...

Over-rated QB + Bad OL + injury prone + Not living in the 70's = Bad year

I really don't have much of a problem with Bama being ranked 16, with that defense they could win 8 games.

All 3 OOC games they should win, Ole Miss and Moo U are probable wins, that's 5. Arkansas and S. Car. are pushes at this point I think, if they win both than they need a win in a bowl game for 8, which would probably put them from 15-20 or so. I think S.Car. and the Razorbacks being early in the season will help them, before depth becomes to much of an issue.

Now Auburn being ranked 20th is what surprises me, with their defense being as good as it was last year I expect them to have a good D this year as well. I think the Tech game will set the tone for how their season will go. If they win I believe they will end up at 8-3 or 9-2.

Here's a reality check regarding Bama this year....

For the 12 Offensive Line positions (including the TE) listed on the Bama 2 -deep depth chart, they list EIGHT players who have never played a down of college football.

That's correct, if you look at the Bama 2-deep for TE, LT, LG, C, RG, & RT,
you will see 8 of the 12 players who have never seen any game playing time whatsoever. With a QB and RB both coming off serious injuries, this simply doesn't bode well. Bama simply doesn't have many experienced players up front and there is going to be a HUGE drop-off in talent from Wesley Britt and Evan Mathis on the OL to now counting on players with ZERO experience.

The depth problem at Bama is probably worse than it has been in the last few years and the probation has really taken a toll. I will be surprised if Bama wins more than 5 or 6 games. After all the only way Bama even qualified for a bowl
bid last year was to claim a win over D1AA Western Carolina for their 6th required win. When you toss in their win over Utah State even the 6 wins Bama had were not really impressive.

Regarding Bama's defense, Bama had some good games early against some WEAK competition which padded their stats. Bama has a decent defense but it is certainly not capable of winning 8 games on its' own. In reality Bama gave up over 200 yards rushing in 3 or 4 games last year against the better teams they played and Bama was absolutely humiliated by Minnesota and gave up almost 300 yards on the ground in the Music City Bowl.

This year could really get ugly for Bama FAST if injuries happen early to just
1 or 2 key players and Brodie Croyle is as injury prone as any player in the country. That very young and inexperienced Bama OL is going to be a real concern.

Re: Some of these magazines just list certain teams...

Croyle was a really good QB his freshman year but injuries have killed him. Even so a healthy Croyle isn't enough to carry the short on talent probation ridden Bama team to anything better than a .500 record.

I dunno. That's not too far off to me. 'Bama didn't lose a whole lot from last season. They have experience at QB and their defense is SOLID. If you remember from last year's game against them, our offense really had their hands full moving the ball against the Tide defense. They'll be just as good on the defensive side of the ball this season.

I predicted that 'Bama will finish 2nd in the West behind us this year:

SEC WEST
1. :lsup:
2. Alabama (see above)
3. Auburn (unless they prove me differenly, they lost too much from their '04 team)
4. Ole Miss (depending on how Arkansas replaces Matt Jones...)
5. Arkansas (see above)
6. Miss State (they'll be much improved, but finishing as high as possibly 4th is what they can ledgitimately shoot far--they won't finish higher)

I think that Alabama can go 5-3 in the SEC.

I also think that they will knock off Tennessee in Tuscaloosa.

They will lose to:

LSU
Auburn
Florida

They will beat:

Tennessee
South Carolina
Mississippi
Mississippi State
Arkansas

Add wins against:

Southern Miss
MTSU
Utah State

They could possibly end up at 8-3

If they were to beat Allbarn as well, it could be 9-2