Who is ready for some football?

[WTL]

Zooker, we have 3 freshmen on the offensive line - and our 3 year starter/center was lost for the season last week. If you remember this team was hit heavily by probation, we fielded a team with 8 less scholarship players than all the other SEC teams, and that got us. In the end we werent good enough, not yet at least. Good luck to Texas and USC.

[southernsnatcher]

that was a d@mned good game...had me on the edge of my seat the whole time...i bout died when they missed that last field goal...that game was just to close for comfort...

[zooker]

umm wtl 1 man does not will not make that much of a differance. fresh man are for the most part recuited from the best advailable high school players. being a freshman dose not mean they don't know how to play.. your excuss aint holding water.. tho that would explain a couple of crappy snaps...

zooker

[WTL]

Zooker, look at the top 5 right now on the offensive line and tell me if those 5 teams together have 3 freshmen offensive linemen starting? I bet they don't. There might not be 1. To play offensive line you have to be both physically ready and mentally ready, its probably the toughest position for a true freshman to play besides maybe qb. Our freshmen have done better than could have been expected this year, but against LSUs front 4 (upperclassmen Parade All Americans) it was obvious they werent ready. What it comes down to is not being an excuse, its an admission the we were too weak on the O-line. As I told someone else we just werent good enough.

[Dyas]

Zook our qb was gun shy the whole second half and overthrew probably 4 bombs and 2 td's. Our recievers caught crap and our 2nd string center cant block well at all. I am suprised Darby got over 120 yards rushing. 2 or 3 years down the road be looking for us in the nation championship hunt again cause most of our o-line is young and our receivers will be seniors and will have some time under their belt not to mention our qb. By then our d will be very good again. But next week is the IRON BOWL!!!!!!!!!! Forget last week its Auburn baby RollTide!!!!

[KH.]

dyas, sorry to the loss against lsu, i am not a fan of bama, but i sure hate lsu

[southernsnatcher]

kh, well thats not very nice...

dyas, i will agree that your offense does need some work..but i dont believe you will have to wait a few years for your d to be better...i would have to say that they have one of the best if not the best defense in the nation...i mean think about you guys were undefeated and in 13 quarters of play your offense only scored 1 offensive touchdown...thats something to brag about on your d's behalf...coyle did lose it in the second half..but everybody has bad days...hell LSU got beat by tennesee for cryin out loud....

[WTL]

Southernsnatcher, what I told Dyas in an instant message was that we would be in the national championship game in 5 years. We are still recovering from the 2nd worst probation in the history of NCAA football, so there were a couple of holes on the offensive side of the ball that we could not overcome this year. Next year we will be strong, we might contend for the SEC west, but the year after that we will be a BCS championship calibur team. It just takes time when you can only sign 17 players a couple years in the row and the rest are allowed to sign 28.

[lizardsrule]

Originally Posted by WTL

It just takes time when you can only sign 17 players a couple years in the row and the rest are allowed to sign 28.

No offense intended to YOU, but who's fault is that anyway If you don't play by the rules, and get caught, you're gonna have to pay. I realize lots of cheating happens, but it still doesn't make it right. Until they change the rules, then you had better abbide by them, cause in this instance it could very easily have cost your school a couple of national championships.

Lizards

[Dyas]

Well Mike Shula didnt break the rules I beleive that Dennis Franchoni, or however you spell his name, Or Mike Price did. Plus that @ss hole Phat Phill had a lot to do with it to. Hint that every person in Alabama and all the Bama fans around the country hate Fulmer.

[WTL]

Lizards, we were set up. We really were. The NCAA is the most corrupt organization in sports considering how they dealt with our case, it has boggled my mind for the past 3 years all that they did. I don't expect for you to believe me or take my word, I know I sound like some fan who can't accept reality, but nobody, NOBODY, WOULD EVER PAY 200 THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR A DEFENSIVE LINEMAN. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THE SEC NOTIFIED 11 OF ITS MEMBERS TO NOT RECRUIT ALBERT MEANS OUT OF MEMPHIS, BUT FORGOT TO TELL ALABAMA NOT TO RECRUIT HIM. IN FACT, ALABAMA ASKED THE SEC TWICE IF HE WAS CLEAN AND IF WE COULD SIGN HIM WITHOUT WORRY, AND THEY SAID YES. WE....WERE...SET....UP.

Dyas mentioned Fulmer and the University of Tennessee, in every publication I've seen they claim that Fulmer turned us in. This is incorrect. Fulmer organized what happened. He had several meetings with one of our recruiting gurus down here who had been passed over by UA for a job, UT boosters, and the chief investigator for the NCAA, all before Albert Means was a junior in highschool. This was an organized sting. Even so, nobody has ever been able to trace a single dollar from a UA booster to Albert Means, the player in question. The friggin FBI had wiretaps on one of our boosters, and they say this guy paid 200 grand, and yet they don't have a paper trail? The highschool coaches of Albert Means who were said to have steered Means to Bama have changed their stories a dozen times. David Payne, another Memphis highschool football player, has said numerous times that he was OFFERED MONEY BY UT BOOSTERS TO SAY TO NCAA INVESTIGATORS THAT ALABAMA HAD OFFERED ILLEGAL RECRUITING INDUCEMENTS. Around 1999, Bama was recruiting a player from Murphesboro named Santonio Beard. At the time, 1999, Beard, who was also being recruited by Fulmer quoted Fulmer as saying that "ALABAMA WILL BE OUT OF BUSINESS IN 2 YEARS". How did Fulmer know this? Simple, the plan was in motion. Make no mistake about it Lizards what happened with Alabama, the NCAA and UT was as dirty as it gets. What people don't get is just who was dirty.

[lizardsrule]

I will admit I know "NOTHING" about the infractions, and can't comment on any of your information. I do believe "YOU" to be a stand up guy, and I will not come to any conclusions about who did what. However it happened, set up or not, there had to be someone who did some stuff wrong, or they couldn't have given the sanctions against Bama, and it would still be in court I actually was rooting for Bama, now it's Texas. Just as long as USC doesn't win it LOL. And how about those Colts it appears no one likes the pro game besides me, since all the talk is always about college. I like college, but love Pro Football.

Lizards

[WTL]

Lizards, it is in court. There are lawsuits everywhere. The University looked into filing suit, but obviously decided not to because it has already pissed someone at the NCAA off, and wants nothing further to do with those guys.

Another thing for you to chew on - when it became obvious that the NCAA had us in their sights we decided to make a peace offering, we offered to eliminate 15 scholarships, no admission of guilt because we didn't think we were guilty. Our compliance guys Gene Marsh and Marie Robbins were kinda told through backchannels that the NCAA would accept that and not penalize us further. Therefore, when put in front of the inquiry we probably did not defend ourselves like we should, we instead coorperated with the NCAA thinking we wanted to get to the bottom of what our boosters were doing too. Well, it was all going smoothly, we thought the NCAA would take that self imposed penalty, in fact there was discussion that we were offereing too much given the evidence. Then the penalties were announced, 20 something schollies gone, 2 year bowl ban, no revenue from the SEC (thus causing my tuition to go up, less money for the entire University) - and the kicker was during the press conference this was announced at, Thomas Yeager, the chairmen in charge of the penalties said that the people in charge of the University had done one of the best jobs in the history of collegiate atheletics in monitering what had gone on and being up front with the NCAA, but that the U of A was "looking down the barrel of the gun at the death penalty". Think about it, what the guy said was that the university had done everything it could possibly do to monitor what was going on, had in fact done a superb job in dealing with the NCAA up front, and that they almost decided to shut our entire football program down. Think about it, that is why people are still pissed off. I have written a novella on here today, 3 years after the fact, for you just mentioning our probation - this is not me being a cookie cutter fan denying that we did something wrong, I really, really know that we were screwed. I wish that this would all come out, because the NCAA does not do things right - it is as arbitrary as it could be. Since we were nearly destroyed, I have seen 7 or 8 schools in the news for possible NCAA violations, many have been charged with Lack of Institutional Control, and none of them have been hit in a manner close to the way Bama was hit.

I have more too. This will all come out in a book btw that is in the works. The player that we got destroyed over, Albert Means enrolled at Alabama and managed to get a 0.0 GPA. 0.0. The only people who have a 0.0 GPA are the ones who know they arent gonna be there for any time at all, so they don't even bother to go to class. Means knew that he was just there for the time being. In 2001 when the NCAA was snooping around, it was put out in the press that Means was an innocent bystander, that he had been steered to Alabama by his HS coaches and that he had not recieved any money. Last year under oath however, Means admitted that he did recieve money from his HS coaches. When asked about the descrepency between some of his earlier testemony in which he denied knowing about the money going around, means said and I quote "I don't know, Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegitable." Back in 2000 when this story broke, Means acted shocked and distressed, and withdrew from the University of Alabama with that 0.0 GPA. The NCAA then allowed him to transfer to Memphis state, where he was able to play without sitting out, with a 0.0 GPA - how, why, who allowed him to bypass standard academic NCAA bylaws in regards to his eligibility?

[Sluggo Man]

About time the Pats begin an actual winning streak again. Their offense is doing great, and the vast majority of the defense is doing great, but their secondary is just so bruised up. The new rookie, Hobbs, is awesome though.

The key to winning 3 SB in 4 years was balance, yes, but perhaps their strongest point was defense. They still have the run stoppage now that Tedy Bruschi is back... now if they can block some passes... they're golden.

Getting Corey Dillon back would be cool too, but Evans will do for now.

[zooker]

ask your self this how does the gators have the best team consitantly ? simple recuirtment and a huge amount of $$$$. how do i know simple i have been through it.
i spoke with 7 recuiters my senior year. both big ten and acc i signed on with the ********* because i wanted there academic program. but still i only needed a 2.5 gpa to play with them. unlike maryland uni were a 1.7 gpa would allow you to play. they also offered up a sign on bonus.
according to several differant sources- good collage friends-what i got was a tad low-if you can call 5 digits low- odds are that guys that play all state football in high school will get and average of $15000 in almni gifts and prizes..from select collages..the gators you can bet the farm are well above that figure....

sad but true. you just never hear about this stuff as most coaches keep very mum about it. though it is a known fact among collage players. mind you i was not a star football player. but i made all state my junior year in high school.
my collage career ended nov 3rd 1994. the day i recieved an knee adjustment from 2 rutgurs players-both of which i really would love to meet some day-i spent the next year learning to walk again.

zooker

[Sluggo Man]

Navy beats Army, go Navy! (My family has a history of being in the navy, so I was rooting for them.)

Right now watching the Bengals/Steelers. I don't know why they are leaving in an injured quarterback, but he's still doing pretty good (minus that interception!)

Pats should win today... Jets are about the only team more injured than they are.

Edit: YES! The defense finally figured out the pass rush, pouring at the QB every play! And the secondary got an interception! I think New England's defense is back in the game!

And it was fun to watch Corey Dillon run again... man he doesn't mind plowing through some defenders.

[WTL]

I'm waiting with baited breath for the bowl selections later today. It looks like its the Cotton - not the outback. Of course thats close to Lake Fork and I could hit some casinos and Beale street on the way out, but I was kinda pulling for Tampa. How about the Longhorns and Trojans? Man, if we had of gone undefeated I wouldnt have said a damn word after yesterday, they looked great. Reggie Bush looks like he is just the fastest guy on the planet. 200 yards rushing in the first half is sick.

[Dyas]

Holy mess.. 200 dang yards in the first dang half... That is sick....

[angelus40]

cincinnati beats the steelers 38-31

[southernsnatcher]

i hate the bcs..this is so ridiculous..lsu goes into the sec championship at # 4 lose and come out at 13...WHAT IS THAT ABOUT... given we win the bowl game we should be in the top 10 for next year but falling nine spots for losing a championship game is just insane..and i dont wanna even get started with the newly ranked fla. st. ugh....

[Dyas]

LSU shouldnt have been ranked that high IMO. Alabama shouldnt have been ranked as high later in the season either. The BCS messes things up a little every now and then. But I think they got the bowl matches up right. Accept for Auburn playing Wisconsin again. They are gonna beat Wisconsin and almost everyone knows it. Auburn is a better team than people give them credit for. I think they should play Noter Dame or maybe the Buckeyes but not Wisconsin.....

[Sluggo Man]

Anyone want to make some early playoff predictions?

Looks for sure like some teams are going to make the playoffs for sure... Colts, Seahawks, Broncos, Bears, Patriots. Although the wildcards look quite up for grabs.

What do you think about the Colts? Go for 16-0? Or rest starters?

[angelus40]

cincinnati will make the play offs

[Dyas]

I say the Eaglez Brush by and just make it in.. I can see that happening although its a long shot...

[Sluggo Man]

Always fun to watch the Pats play in the snow. 35-7... guess those players returning from the injury list are making a difference.

Seriously, you should have seen their injury list a few weeks ago. Now that they've got Corey Dillon back, they can actually run again.