Saban Bowl or Satan Bowl?
November 2nd, 2007Time Out
by Paul Jordon
Devil or angel? Guess it depends on who you ask.
Talking about current Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who is also the former LSU football coach. At LSU, Saban took the Tigers to a national title. In his first year at Alabama, Saban has led the Crimson Tide to a 6-2 overall record and a 4-1 league mark. LSU is 7-1 and also 4-1 in conference play. The two meet Saturday in the 4 p.m. CBS showcase (no other games are being broadcast at that time).
The game has so many story lines that the pre-game hype has taken on Super Bowl proportions. The two teams are tied for the top for the SEC West lead and the winner will have the inside track to the SEC title game. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that it will be the first game in which Saban will lead his new team against his old team. Some 17 players that he recruited will be playing for the Tigers against their old coach.
Now, as both camps have stressed over and over this week in a less-than-successful attempt to downplay the coaching angle, the players will care little who is coaching once the opening whistle sounds. But the fans are another story.
Saban has become the savior of Alabama football and is considered by many in Tuscaloosa and around the state (except in Auburn) as an angel, if not a god. If you attend a football game in Baton Rouge, you will see t-shirts proclaiming Saban to be Satan and calling the upcoming game the “Satan Bowl.” T-shirts in Tuscaloosa, on the other hand, deify the new coach and call the upcoming game the “Saban Bowl.”
Of course, what this is leading up to - no it’s already here - is a new, true rivalry between Bama and LSU. Not that there is not a rivalry already. After all, the two teams have played 70 times previously (Bama leads 43-22-5) and yours truly can remember personally witnessing some great Tide-Bayou Tigers matchups at Legion Field in my younger days. But most of the time, Bama was a big favorite when LSU came calling and the Bama-LSU series never had the intensity of the Bama-Tennessee or Alabama-Auburn rivalries. With this game, with Saban’s arrival in Tuscaloosa, it is now officially on par with the other two.
A quick sidebar to the “devil or angel” question - sure it has no meaning whatsoever. Alabama’s Coach Saban celebrated his 56th birthday this past week. Coincidently, or maybe not, his birthday falls on Halloween!
Having Bama in position to play in the SEC title game in his first year is above and beyond most fans’ expectations and is exactly what the most frenzied Tide fans believed would transpire. It is also exactly where LSU fans hoped and prayed the Tide program would NOT be in 2007.
Welcome to the wacky world of SEC football!
One would think that heading into Week 10 of a season, some things would have already fallen into place, that there would be a good idea of who would be meeting in the SEC championship game. But that’s not the case.
Heading into Week 10, 11 of the 12 league members still have a shot at their respective division titles and thus a shot at the SEC title. Only 2-7 Ole Miss is out of the picture.
The picture is similar as far as possible bowl opportunities. Half the league, six teams (Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina, LSU, Georgia, Kentucky) already have the six wins needed to be bowl eligible and five others (Tennessee, Florida, Vandy, Mississippi State, Arkansas) have five wins.
The Bama-LSU game is not just the biggest game on the SEC schedule this week, it is almost the only real contest on tap. There are two other league matchups - South Carolina at Arkansas and Vanderbilt at Florida - the rest of the SEC teams are unofficially taking a week off by playing homecoming patsies.
South Carolina (6-3, 3-3) at Arkansas (5-3, 1-3) is big for S.C. because with the Gamecocks battling for the East crown, every league win is big. The game is also big for Arkansas because a win would make the Hogs bowl eligible. But the odds are not looking good for Carolina’s chances. Arkansas leads the league with 22 takeaways. South Carolina loads the league with most turnovers. The Gamecocks must do better. Often, if not nearly always, the turnover stat is the most important number in a game.
Vandy (5-3, 2-3) at Florida (5-3, 3-3) is also big for the two teams involved. A win for either would foster its East title chances and would also make it bowl eligible.
Auburn (6-3), Tennessee (5-3), Ole Miss (2-7) and Georgia (6-2) will host homecoming foes Tennessee Tech (4-5), La.-Lafayette (1-7), Northwestern State (3-5) and Troy (6-2).
All four are off-the-chart favorites. The only interesting matchup could be in Athens, where the No. 10 Bulldogs host Troy University of the Sun Belt Conference. Troy has been building a Division I reputation over the past few seasons by scheduling top tier teams and pulling off at least one big upset each year, usually on TV. The Trojans haven’t had their upset fix yet this season. Could it come Saturday? The Bulldogs had better beware. It could be a post Halloween trick.
WEEKEND TV LINEUP
The Friday night 7 p.m. ESPN offering - not a “must see” contest — of Nevada vs. New Mexico State will kick off the weekend TV schedule.
Saturday’s TV lineup, other than pay-for-view
11 a.m.
Wake Forest at Virginia (WB), James Madison at Delaware (CSS), Purdue at Penn State (ESPN), Iowa at Northwestern (ESPN2)
11:30 p.m.
Vandy at Florida (Lincoln Financial Sports), Nebraska at Kansas (FSN South)
121:30 p.m.
Kansas State at Iowa State (Versus)
1 p.m.
Fort Valley State at Albany State (NFL Network)
2:30 p.m.
Cincinnati at South Fla. (ABC); Navy at Notre Dame (NBC), Marshall at Central Fla. (CSS), Michigan at Michigan St. (ESPN), Maryland at North Carolina (ESPNU)
4 p.m.
LSU at Alabama (CBS)
5:30 p.m.
Missouri at Colorado (FSN South), Arizona St. at Oregon (ESPN)
6 p.m.
Southern Miss at UAB (CSS), Rutgers at Connecticut (ESPNU)
7 p.m.
FSU at Boston College (ABC), South Carolina at Arkansas (ESPN2)
9 p.m.
Washington State at California (FSN South).
Tags: College Football
