Tag: Alabama Crimson Tide (Page 9 of 20)

      2009 Heisman winner Ingram the next player to be probed by NCAA?

      July 22, 2010 /
      PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 07: Running back Mark Ingram #22 of the Alabama Crimson Tide speaks during a press conference after winning the Citi BCS National Championship game over the Texas Longhorns at the Rose Bowl on January 7, 2010 in Pasadena, California. The Crimson Tide defeated the Longhorns 37-21. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

      I’m sorry – I must have missed the memo. When did this become National College Football Players Getting Investigated by the NCAA Week?

      TMZ.com is reporting that Alabama running back and 2009 Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram is the latest player to be probed for possible rules violations. According to the report, Ingram attended a party in Washington, D.C. and now the NCAA wants to know if agents paid for anything (his trip there, a new watch, maybe some red plastic cups) at the lavish shindig.

      Alabama says that it checked with the NCAA and they approved the trip as long as Ingram was able to provide receipts for his expenses. But as TMZ notes, it’s unclear at this point whether or not those receipts were submitted. (Although either way, the NCAA obviously still has some unanswered questions that they would like, uh, answered………………stupid.)

      We’ll have to wait and see if this story develops. If Ingram paid for himself to attend the party and has receipts to prove it, then he’s done nothing wrong. But if it’s discovered that an agent hooked him up with so much as a Chewy Granola Bar (even if it was oatmeal raisin, which is the red-headed stepchild in the same variety pack as chocolate chip and peanut butter chocolate chip), then the collective hearts of Tide fans everywhere are going to be in their throats.

      Heading into a new season without the backbone of your offense is a scenario ‘Bama fans don’t even want to imagine.

      College Football, External Sports

      College Football Program Power Rankings

      February 25, 2010 /

      Welcome to a new feature on The Scores Report. We thought it would be interesting to tally up all the major accomplishments of a college football program and assign a point value to each category in order to rank them against one another. Then our football guru, Anthony Stalter, wrote a little bit about each program and the direction that it’s headed.

      Here’s how the points are calculated — 20 points for a national championship, 10 for a BCS title game loss, seven for a BCS bowl win, five for a BCS bowl loss, five for a BCS conference championship, three for a mid-major conference championship, two for a BCS conference runner-up and one for a major bowl appearance (i.e. a bowl that has a recent payout of more than $2 million — Capital One, Outback, Chick-fil-A, Cotton, Gator, Holiday, Champs Sports and Alamo.) You’ll see the total points in parenthesis after the team’s name.

      We put some thought into the point values for each accomplishment, paying special attention to how the point values are relative to one another. For example, we figured that one national championship would equate to four BCS conference championships, or three BCS bowl wins. We only looked at the last five years, as college football has increasingly become a fluid and fickle sport, and that’s about how far back a recruit will go when deciding amongst a list of schools.

      Lastly, since a program is so dependent on the guy in charge, we added or subtracted points if the program upgraded or downgraded its head coach in the last five years. A max of 10 points would be granted (or docked) based on the level of upgrade or downgrade. Again, we tried to quantify the hire relative to the program’s other accomplishments. For example, hiring Nick Saban is probably worth two BCS bowl appearances, or 10 points. (Sure, he might lead Alabama to more, but he also might bolt for another job in a year or two.)

      So, without further ado, here are the rankings. Every year we’ll go through and update the numbers based on what the program did that year (while throwing out the oldest year of data), so don’t fret if your team isn’t quite where you want them right now. Everyone has a chance to move up.

      1. Florida Gators (61)

      National Championship: ’08-W, ’06-W
      BCS Bowl: ’09-W
      Conference Championship: ’09-RU, ’08-W, ’06-W
      Major Bowl Appearance: ’07, ’05
      It’s hard to argue that the Gators don’t deserve the top spot with two national championship victories, three BCS bowl wins, two conference championships and five bowl appearances in the past five years. Considering they play in college football’s toughest conference, what Urban Meyer’s program has been able to accomplish in the past five years has been incredibly impressive. The program dodged a bullet when Meyer rejoined the team.

      2. Ohio State Buckeyes (58)

      National Championship: ’07-L, ’06-RU
      BCS Bowl: ’09-W, ’08-L, ’05-W
      Conference Championship: ’09-W, ’08-RU, ’07-W, ’06-W, ’05-RU
      The Buckeyes are subjected to criticism every year because they play in a weak conference that doesn’t have a title game, but keep in mind that they have absolutely owned the Big Ten over the past five years. They have finished no worse than second in each of the past five seasons and have also appeared in two title games. While it’s true they lost in both of those appearances, just getting there helped them greatly in these rankings.

      3. Texas Longhorns (49)

      National Championship: ’09-L, ’05-W
      BCS Bowl: ’08-W,
      Conference Championship: ’09-W, ’05-W
      Major Bowl Appearance: ’07, ’06
      The Longhorns have been a model of consistency. They’ve made a bowl appearance in each of the last five years, won a national championship in 2005 and made a title appearance this past last year. It’ll be interesting to see how Mack Brown’s program fares in 2010 now that Colt McCoy has graduated and youngster Garrett Gilbert is set to take over at quarterback.

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      College Football

      Staples: Alabama, Boise top early teams for 2010

      January 14, 2010 /

      Andy Staples of SI.com put together his 2010 Top 25 in college football, with Alabama and Boise State ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

      Here is his top 5:

      1. Alabama Crimson Tide
      It’s no coincidence that after linebacker Rolando McClain announced his decision to skip his senior year and enter the draft, rising junior Donta’ Hightower was brought before the media. That baton pass should go smoothly, and if you watched the BCS title game, you already know rising junior Marcell Dareus can take over a game. On the other side of the ball, the Crimson Tide only return a national-title winning quarterback (Greg McElroy), a Heisman Trophy-winning tailback (Mark Ingram) and the back a lot of people think is better than the Heisman winner (Trent Richardson).

      2. Boise State Broncos
      It’s time to stop doubting the Broncos. I ripped on their schedule plenty last season, but all they do when they get on the big stage is win. It’s easy to say they wouldn’t go undefeated in a better conference, but when Boise State has played teams from better conferences in the past few years, the Broncos have won. So to all the teams that think Boise State shouldn’t be ranked this high, you have one way to prove it: beat the Broncos.

      3. Ohio State Buckeyes
      Now that the Buckeyes have cast the BCS bowl gorilla from their backs, it’s time to work on Ohio State’s personal King Kong — the BCS title game. The Buckeyes have the talent. They have experience at key positions. Their only problem? The 2010 Big Ten will be deeper than it’s been in years.

      4. Texas Longhorns
      Rising sophomore quarterback Garrett Gilbert offered a glimpse of how good he can be in the BCS title game. The Longhorns’ defense loses end Sergio Kindle, but this is Texas. Kindle’s exit only means rising sophomore Alex Okafor has a chance to become a household name.

      5. Iowa Hawkeyes
      Defensive tackle Adrian Clayborn said he would be back next season, but that was before he owned Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl. If he can fend off agents the way he fends off blockers, he’ll be the anchor of a stacked team playing a schedule that brings Penn State and Ohio State to Iowa City.

      If Ohio State can take what they did against Oregon in the Rose Bowl and build upon it for next year, there’s a good chance we’ll be seeing the Buckeyes in the national title game.

      It’s a little early to be making predictions, but it’s fun to look ahead. I remember last year how everyone thought Ole Miss was going to make some noise in the SEC and the Rebels failed to deliver on that.

      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Football

      Colt McCoy is the epitome of class

      January 8, 2010 /

      The college football gods owe Colt McCoy a massive apology, because what they did to him on Thursday night was extremely cruel.

      On the fifth play of the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, an Alabama defender hit McCoy on his right side and the quarterback’s arm immediately went dead. He motioned to come out of the game and was replaced by freshman Garrett Gilbert for the remainder of the series.

      That was the last time McCoy took a snap for the Texas Longhorns, who eventually fell to Alabama, 37-21.

      It’s not fair what happened to McCoy. You could see how distraught he was while having to watch from the sidelines as his team fought an uphill battle. He came back for his senior year for the opportunity to win a national championship and instead he was forced to be a spectator for his team’s biggest moment. For what he did at Texas and for college football, he deserved more than this ending.

      But even though he was handed the most unfortunate of breaks, McCoy proved to everyone how much character he has. Following the game, he held back tears while talking to ESPN reporter Lisa Salters about having to watch the game from the sidelines. Nobody would have blamed him if he vented his frustrations or talked about how the outcome of the game would have been different had he played.

      But instead, he made it a point of emphasis to congratulate Alabama not once, but twice while wrapping up the interview. And it wasn’t a clichéd, tongue-in-check type of congratulations: It was as sincere as they come.

      McCoy managed to muster the strength to congratulate an opponent that had just benefited from one of his darkest moments. Now that’s class.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Football

      Alabama overcomes Saban’s first quarter mistakes to win national title

      January 8, 2010 /

      Those that tuned into the 2010 BCS National Championship Game don’t need a breakdown of what transpired on Thursday night: Alabama took advantage of a Colt McCoy shoulder injury and managed to survive a late rally by Texas to cash in a 37-21 victory.

      Had McCoy played the entire game, would Texas have won? We’ll never know, although the Longhorns certainly had everything working in their favor early on, taking advantage of one Nick Saban mistake after another.

      Saban’s decision to receive instead of putting his defense on the field first was unwise. His decision to fake a punt after the Tide went three and out on their first possession was unnecessary. And his decision not to instruct his return team to call for a fair catch or re-position themselves after Texas had already kicked the ball short at the start of the game was neglectful.

      Due to those three decisions, Saban essentially spotted the Longhorns a 6-0 lead. Had McCoy not been hurt, who knows whether or not that 6-0 lead could have been 14-0 to start the game.

      Saban obviously deserves enormous credit for turning Alabama’s program around and building a national championship team. What he’s been able to do in such a short period of time has been remarkable and speaks to how good he is at what he does. He’s a motivator, a master game planner and manages to keep young men focused, which cannot be easy to do.

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