Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

Just call the state of Alabama the “Football Capital of the Nation.”

That’s what everyone will be calling it after Auburn defeats whoever the Tigers’ BCS opponent in the national title game turns out to be. It is only deserving. No other state can claim back-to-back national titles plus back-to-back Heisman Trophies. Last year it was the Alabama Crimson Tide and Mark Ingram; this year it will be the Auburn Tigers and Cam Newton.

But first things first. That national championship column will be in January. This is still December, the end of the regular season for Southeastern Conference football.

For the record, it’s Week 14, the SEC Championship Game Week — this year dubbed “The Rematch.” The SEC title game in the Georgia Dome on Saturday should be a great one and storylines abound. It would be easier for everyone all around — except South Carolina folks — if Auburn would just go ahead and handily win, thus putting them into the national title game automatically. There would be no arguments from any corner.

The game is at 3 p.m. on your local CBS station.

Read the rest of this entry »

Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

Week 12 SEC football feels as if it is almost an aside, an afterthought.

Sure there are games to be played — only five, three of them conference games — but with neither defending BCS champ Alabama nor this year’s BCS favorite Auburn in action this weekend (Alabama played early, Thursday … more on that later) and the Eastern and Western champions already decided, it’s easy to understand why a feeling of “who cares” seems to prevail.

Teams are now playing for pride, or to improve its resume in order to land a bigger bowl. For most SEC fans, especially those in Alabama, we are already in pre-Iron Bowl mode. The countdown has begun.

TV Schedule and Lines Below
Read the rest of this entry »

Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

It’s a strange “Third Saturday in October.” That is, or more correctly was, traditionally the weekend that Alabama plays Tennessee. For decades, Tide and Volunteer fans waited impatiently for that third weekend and the latest edition of the heated gridiron rivalry.

But divisional play and schedule makeovers changed all that. This year, the “third Saturday” game will be played on the “fourth Saturday” — that would be this Saturday. And what makes it even more strange is the fact that the Bama-Tennessee battle is not the marquee game on the eighth-week lineup.

This week’s Southeastern Conference football schedule is low on quantity — with only six games on tap — but high on quality, with five of the six being league contests.

The top game this week has to be on The Plains of Auburn, where the only two remaining undefeated teams in the SEC will meet (Line: Auburn by 6). Auburn and visiting LSU come into the big game with matching records — 7-0 overall, 4-0 in the SEC.

Read the rest of this entry »

TV Lineup and Lines Below

Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

You know, it’s sort of fitting that Week No. 13 of the Southeastern Conference 2009 football season is also Grudge Match Week — where in-state or traditional rivals get together. You know, the “you can throw the record books out on this one” kind of games where a win for one team can salvage a losing season, send the fans home into the long dreary night of no-football with happy memories with which to sustain them.

There are seven SEC games on a long-Thanksgiving Week schedule that begins with one game Friday and has a full slate on Saturday. Four of the seven are league encounters and all of the games are of the traditional type.

Of course, the biggest game of the week, the annual Iron Bowl, where Alabama and Auburn battle to decide state bragging rights for the upcoming year, leads off the action, set for Friday afternoon. And you can say that this year’s edition is special … OK, OK, you are right … every Iron Bowl is special, but for different reasons each time around. (Maybe something will happen this year to inspire a new name for the game, since it hasn’t really been the Iron Bowl since leaving Legend Field in Birmingham).

Read the rest of this entry »