Posted on 12/01/2012 5:15:03 PM PST by blam
Alabama Wins SEC Title, Will Face Notre Dame Next (Beat Georgia 32-28)
Alabama running back Eddie Lacy scores on a 41-yard touchdown run as he is chased by Georgia's Shawn Williams during the second quarter. (John David Mercer-USA TODAY Photo / December 1, 2012)
Brian Hamilton
Tribune reporter
6:53 p.m. CST, December 1, 2012
ATLANTA -- Notre Dame, the Tide rolls for thee.
Alabama rallied twice in the second half to down Georgia 32-28 in the SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome on Saturday, all but assuredly earning a shot at the No. 1 Irish in the BCS title tilt on Jan. 7.
Down three with five and a half minutes to play, Alabama QB AJ McCarron threw a 45-yard pass to Amari Cooper for with 3:15 to play. The drive took four plays.
In what has become two teams swinging anvils at each other all afternoon, Georgia blew an 11-point lead only to restore its advantage early in the fourth quarter, leading Alabama 28-25 as the teams have three 100-yard rushers on the day between them.
The third quarter began as an utter disaster for Alabama, as Georgia seemed poised to vanquish demons after collapsing against LSU in this spot last year. It opened the second half with a 75-yard drive to a Todd Gurley 3-yard touchdown run and a 14-10 lead.
Then the Georgia special teams continued its rout in this affair, blocking an Alabama field goal attempt with Alec Ogletree returning it 55 yards for a stunning score and a 21-10 advantage midway through the third.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Urban Meyer has the same deal at UF, if ND or Ohio State came calling. Just wish he didn’t leave the cupboard so bare.....Muschamp basically said last year that he truly inherited a mess.
Oh bull crap! Bama would have lost to LSU if Miles’ bravado hadn’t given the game to them. And Texas A&M? The team that not only lost HOME games to LSU and Florida but also padded its schedule with Sam Houston State, Louisiana Tech, and South Carolina State? Oh, but that’s right, all SEC teams do that. Meanwhile, whether or not opponents turn out to have good years, give the Irish a little credit for scheduling Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Stanford, Oklahoma, and Southern Cal. As it turns out, Stanford is in the Rose Bowl, and four of ND’s opponents rank in the top 25 defenses in the country (add Pitt and BYU to Stanford and Michigan). Georgia ranked 69th against the run, which might explain Bam’a success today running the ball. As for the almighty “SEC,” ND’s record is 47-21, 5-1 against Bama, including 2 bowl games when Bama was ranked at or near the top, and they have earned hard-won victories in Birmingham, Knoxville, and Baton Rouge, never easy places to play. Notre Dame plays a national schedule, unlike most SEC teams. But wait, Georgia played Buffalo this year. I guess that is their new inter-sectional rivalry. And after today’s game-ending stupidity by Georgia, maybe we should add SAT scores to our discussion.
Here's the most accurate version (coming from a lifelong Bama fan.) This is borrowed from a Bama website, and this story is written about in Winston Groom's (of Forrest Gump fame) book on Bama football:
Behind the "Crimson Tide" nickname and the elephant mascot are two bits of trivia that might stump even the most loyal of Alabama football fans. The team was not always referred to as the "Crimson Tide." Early newspaper accounts of Alabama football simply listed the team as the "varsity" or the "Crimson White" after the school colors. Headline writers then made popular the nickname "The Thin Red Line."
It was not until 1907 that the name "Crimson Tide" was used to describe Alabama. The name was supposedly first used by Hugh Roberts, former sports editor of the Birmingham Age-Herald. Roberts coined the nickname to describe the 1907 Alabama - Auburn game, played in a sea of mud. Although Auburn was favored to win, Alabama played well in the red mud and held Auburn to a 6 - 6 tie, thus gaining the name "Crimson Tide." Zepp Newman, former sports editor of the Birmingham News, probably popularized the name more than any other writer.
Big Al, Alabama's elephant mascot, certainly holds a special place in the hearts of Crimson Tide fans. Perhaps surprisingly to some fans, Alabama has not always boasted an elephant for its mascot. Coach Wallace Wade's 1930 Alabama football team was the first to be associated with the elephant. Sports writer Everett Strupper of the Atlanta Journal wrote a story of the October 4, 1930 Alabama - Mississippi game. Strupper's story called the Alabama team big, tough, fast and aggressive. Strupper also commented that the Alabama players looked " like they had nearly doubled in size" since the previous season.
"At the end of the quarter, the earth started to tremble, there was a distant rumble that continued to grow," Strupper wrote. "Some excited fan in the stands bellowed, ' Hold you horses, the elephants are coming,' and out stamped this Alabama varsity."
Strupper and other writers continued to refer to the Alabama linemen as "Red Elephants," the color referring to the Crimson jerseys.That 1930 team of "Red Elephants" posted a 10 - 0 overall record and defeated Washington State in the Rose Bowl to be declared National Champions.
South Carolina might argue with you.
...and maybe Johnny Manziel's Heisman hopes. Colin Klein was solid in the win and will be fresher in voter's memories when making their decision. The graphic toward the end of the game comparing how each QB fared against ranked teams was very telling.
Yes, I remember Jerome Bettis very well. And fondly.
They would lose the argument.....USCe 2 regular season conference losses, UGA and UF 1 regular season loss....true they trounced UGA, but then we trounced them, and they lost to LSU.
Frankly, A&M right now may be the best of them all.
I think Klein’s got it, they probably figure Manziel will have other chances to win it.
OK, so at least there is a historical connection to the elephant. Thanks. I won’t make fun of it anymore. I do have a wonderfully funny story about the Alabama elephant involving my late, sharp-witted and very Irish mother, but I doubt you would appreciate it, so I will refrain.
I was not arguing FOR South Carolina. I’m just saying that they have a legitimate argument AGAINST Georgia. I mean, a team that lost a game 35 to 7 and has the 69th ranked rushing defense in the country almost made it into the national title game? No. It should not have happened. And it didn’t.
Strange year in the SEC, you had very good teams in Bama, UF, LSU, UGA, A&M and S. Carolina, that all were fairly close to each other, all of those teams with a bounce or two going their way could have won the conference. But after that, all of the teams, with the exception of Vandy (go figure) were pretty bad....even Mississippi State, after their good start were shown to be frauds.
Look for Roll Tide to roll over the Fighting Irish.
Great game.
I had my DNA Checked, I'm definately Irish, R1b1b2 (yDNA). Albeit, my mother mtDNA 'V' was a Saami.
Roll Tide.
Speaking of bull crap.... That’s what usually appears when the gold hats suddenly have a decent year.
I can sympathize with you Chipper. Bama went through a few lean years too. Just don’t get your drawers in a wad because people question your team’s ability. It’s not what you did in the past that matters in the next game. The Gipper isn’t going to suit up in Miami. Let’s see what happens on the field.
“...I’m definately Irish...”
Do not think I am Irish, but I lived in Ireland for 3 years. I have a bar in my home that was previously in the home of the Democratic Party Chairman of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and when it was there it served JFK several times. I keep it for its historical aspects.
I am also not a fan of the SEC.
That said, I am yelling as loud as I can, GO ALABAMA!
What I would question, and what much of the rest of the country questions, about the SEC, is just how do they know they are such “very good teams” if they only play each other? And many on a limited basis at that, padding their schedules with Division II schools. Georgia had 2. A&M had three. When is the last time Georgia traveled to the colosseum to play Southern Cal? Or to the Big House to face Michigan there. Or to Norman to play Oklahoma. Or to Palo Alto to play Stanford. I give Bama credit for its series with Penn State, for for playing Michigan this year (is it home and home next year?). And on regular occasions in the past Bama, Tennessee, and LSU have played home and home series games with Notre Dame (who does play a national schedule). . . thus, they had to travel to South Bend. But, of late, all this hoopla about the SEC seems a bit pointless when, by and large, they do not travel to play anyone other than themselves. I realize that a conference must play its members, first, but all teams have a non-conference schedule, and those of the SEC are terrible. It’s easy to look down at other teams when you never play them. Too far? How about someone besides Florida scheduling FSU? Or Miami? Even Virginia Tech? Not far.
Well, anyone with a Democrat bar in his home is . . . well, ‘nuf said. Go Irish!
What I am in favor of, is having two weekends out of the season, where random opponents are assigned from out of conference, so that each team has to play two quality non-conference opponents, once at home, and the other on the road. They can draw the opponents at the end of the season, so teams can be assigned based on what tier they’re in.....in other words, the Top 32 teams, would have to play two games against non-conference opponents that also finished in the Top 32 in the previous year. The problem is basically going and voiding contracts that are in place where teams have agreed to play years in the future. But I think that is one way to better gauge the true strength of conference.
Do you know the last time Florida played a non-conference game outside of the State of Florida?
1991 against Syracuse.
ROOOOOOLL TIDE ROLL. I love SEC football. Both teams were great. Rammer Jammer to all you Bama haters. :)
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