Happy Monday, everyone. As you know already, Alabama baseball kind of crapped the bed in SEC play, bowing out of the regional round without managing a single victory. Still, there was plenty to build on this year for Coach Rob Vaughn and company.
The calendar has turned to June which means the summer doldrums have kicked off in earnest. As always, we will keep you up to date on any trickle of news that comes across. Over the weekend, Bill Connelly wrote about the CFP, which for now seems to be headed toward a 16 game setup with five autobids that don’t necessarily get the top five seeds. Bill spit some truth with this nugget.
The SEC plays eight-game conference schedules, while the other primary power conference, the Big Ten, plays nine-game schedules. Despite this difference, the metrics cited by the SEC above (including, yes, my SP+ rankings) are a pretty stark reminder that, between the SEC typically having far fewer easy matchups than the Big Ten and a solid rotation of annual out-of-conference rivalry games played by SEC teams against ACC programs — Florida against Florida State, South Carolina against Clemson, etc. — the average SEC schedule is already a decent amount tougher than the average Big Ten schedule. Using my recent post-spring SP+ projections as a guide, SEC teams project to have 13 of the 15 hardest schedules in the country despite eight-game conference slates.
Since Sankey serves at the discretion of SEC presidents and, to a degree, athletic directors, it made sense that he wanted to push back on the mounting pressure to move to nine games.
“If we’re not confident that the decision-making about who gets in and why and what are the metrics around it, it’s going to be really hard for some of my colleagues to get to the nine games,” Texas A&M athletics director Trev Alberts said this week.
Why make your schedules harder if it will cost your conference playoff bids, right?
Eight SEC teams were among the top 16 seeds of the NCAA Softball Tournament bracket and nobody screamed about SEC/ESPN propaganda and whatnot. But, imagine the gnashing of teeth if the SEC were to get 7 of the 11 at large bids in some season. There have been quite a few times that it would have been justified.
Brad Crawford says Alabama needs to get after the passer better this season.
Generate a pass rush: Make no mistake — this should be a stout defense for the Crimson Tide, especially considering cornerbacks tandem Zabien Brown and Domani Jackson are being discussed as one of the best in the conference. But if there’s one area of concern, it’s the ability to produce havoc numbers on the interior and edge since Alabama’s inexperienced beyond James Smith and nose tackle Tim Keenan III. The Crimson Tide need a difference-making campaign out of LT Overton, who has best-in-the-conference type of potential.
I would put more consistent OL play above that, but it is important. He mentions Overton, but Qua Russaw is going to be the linchpin of the pass rush.
Kalen DeBoer’s likeness will be in the CFB video game, but Belichick’s girlfriend wouldn’t let him do it.
Alabama confirmed that the coaches will be included in a Friday social media post. The trailer for the game had shown off the potential for virtual coaches, with a digital version of Ohio State’s Ryan Day appearing.
According to a report from the Athletic, some coaches will not be in the game. Among them, North Carolina’s Bill Belichick, who also did not appear in EA’s Madden series of titles during his time with the NFL’s New England Patriots.
The Athletic also reported that coaches will be available across game modes, and not locked to one school, hypothetically meaning that DeBoer could wind up as offensive coordinator at Delaware if a simulation goes wrong for the Tide.
Alabama basketball added UTSA to this season’s schedule.
Including the Players Era Festival, Alabama has six confirmed dates on the schedule, plus certain appearances in the SEC/ACC Challenge, and against North Dakota and Yale. There’s also been circulation of a potential matchup with South Florida, coached by former Crimson Tide assistant Bryan Hodgson.
Alabama’s latest addition to the schedule, as reported by Rocco Miller, will come against another member of Oats’ coaching tree, Austin Claunch, who led University of Texas-San Antonio to a 12-19 record in his first season at the helm last year.
Last, Alabama WRs Ryan Williams and Isaiah Horton were interviewed by Jon Gruden. It’s a 30 minute show that you can watch here if you like, but this clip was amusing.
That’s about it for now. Have a great week.
Roll Tide.
