Free Republic

Nick Saban’s retiring as the University of Alabama football coach, ESPN reported Wednesday afternoon, turning a long inevitability into a stark reality and sending shockwaves throughout the college football world. It ends arguably the greatest run in college football history where the once famously-nomadic Saban finally planted roots and rebuilt a decaying empire. By reviving a struggling Crimson Tide program — winning 80.6% of his games and seven national titles — Saban placed his name among the all-time greats. That includes Paul “Bear” Bryant, the Alabama coach from six whose national title mark Saban passed in 2020.

The Nightmare in Grapevine is upon us. What is often a formality — making four obvious choices for the four-team College Football Playoff — is anything but for the committee this year. The 13-member group, huddled in a hotel in Grapevine, Texas, will have to make the most consequential and controversial decision in its 10-year existence — and in the final season before the playoff expands to 12 teams. Their decision will be revealed at noon Sunday on ESPN. Big Ten champion Michigan (13-0) and Pac-12 champion Washington (13-0) are assumed to be safely in. They’ll almost assuredly be the...

Top 4 before yesterday: 1) Georgia 2) Ohio State 3) Alabama 4) Cincinnati After a more than interesting day, MY top 4 today 1) Georgia (No one can touch them) 2) Cincinnati (Yes, they play no one but are undefeated) 3) Michigan 4) Notre Dame How they will probably rank them (they have an Alabama bias. Had Auburn NOT gone into "don't lose mode" and remained in attack mode, they would have won). 1) Georgia 2) Michigan 3) Cincinnati 4) Alabama Next weekend after the conference championships will be interesting. Can Alabama hang with Georgia? Will Georgia copy the Auburn...

QB Bryce Young leads a rally for the ages in regulation to help Alabama snap its Jordan-Hare drought and stay in the CFP hunt. AUBURN, Ala.—For 58-½ shocking minutes in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Alabama’s explosive offense was a dysfunctional mess. The nation’s No. 2 scoring team didn’t find the end zone once within that time, trailing three-touchdown underdog Auburn 10-3. After a deft Tigers punt was downed at the 3-yard line, the chances of the Crimson Tide going 97 yards in 95 seconds to tie the game seemed less likely than Nick Saban taking up stand-up comedy. This looked like another...

Nice jab at the culture of fairness, worth the watch.

Alabama and Notre Dame are scheduled to play a home-and-home series in 2028 and 2029. They will not, however, play in a makeshift nonconference game this season, according to Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne. The idea of Alabama and Notre Dame playing in Week 1 of the 2020 season was floated this past week by a member of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic on the "Thom Abraham Show." The suggestion came after the Pac-12's move to cancel nonconference games this fall in response to growing concern over the COVID-19 pandemic, and among the matchups to be canceled as a result...

The outlook of the 2020 NFL draft and the future of Tua Tagovailoa will hinge on the Alabama quarterback’s pending decision. Tagovailoa tweeted Wednesday night that he will announce his huge decision — stay in school or declare for the draft — on Monday. We haven’t had a looming draft decision quite like this in recent memory. There have been injured players who have had tough calls on staying or going, but not with a quarterback as highly regarded as Tagovailoa. Entering the season, the common narrative was that the Miami Dolphins were “Tanking for Tua.” How wrong that proved...

The Crimson Tide play Duke (at a neutral site) and host New Mexico State, Southern Mississippi and Western Carolina for their four non-conference games this season. That has led to criticism that they are playing too soft a schedule. During an appearance Friday on “Golic and Wingo,” Saban shared his side. The Crimson Tide coach says he has long advocated for Power 5 teams to only play each other. He also says the reason Alabama struggles to schedule strong non-conference opponents is because teams don’t want to play the Crimson Tide. Furthermore, he says Alabama ends up playing neutral site...

Bama Players including Jalen Hurts taking a knee before the Miss State Game: Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts (2) kneels in prayer with his teammates before Alabama's SEC football game with Mississippi State, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (March 10, 2006) -- Giving up the fame of the football field at 29 years old, one Company B recruit looked for a glory that was more permanent than any trophy. At age 13, Pfc. Jeremy Staat was 75 inches tall and weighed 230 pounds. It seemed as if he was built for football, according to Staat. “I really didn’t have to work hard at it,” said Staat. Starting as an offensive lineman, Staat grew as a football player and saw his first glimpse of the Marine Corps not long after starting at Arizona...