Cam Newton Controversy Still Hangs Over the Game

Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

Week 13 is going to be an unlucky one for one of the two Iron Bowl teams. The question is, which one? Nine and 2 Alabama or undefeated Auburn (11-0)?

It’s “Rivalry Week” in the SEC, with most (everybody but Vanderbilt) league teams finishing their seasons against long-time rivals — you know, the kind of games of which it is often said “anybody can win” or “throw out the record books.”

Of course, the Iron Bowl is the mother of all rivalries. In Alabama, everyone is either a Tide or War Eagle — you’ve got to pick, no exceptions. The phrase “it’s only a football game” is pure nonsense during Iron Bowl week. In Alabama, the game is taken more than seriously. There have been plenty of friendships, even marriages, ended over the outcome of a particular Iron Bowl. Fights between fans of the teams are common and it’s not uncommon for the cops to break up AU-UA confrontations.

This will be the 75th edition of the Iron Bowl and it has shaped up to be one of the most-anticipated in some time — for several reasons.

TV Schedule and Lines Below
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Time Out
by Dan Rutledge

I can see it now, the proclamation in big letters for all who came to Legion Field in Birmingham to see: “Football Capital of the South.” I used to think it referred to Birmingham. Now I understand it means the state of Alabama.

The Alabama Crimson Tide finished last year as No. 1 in all the college football world and on the way, running back Mark Ingram won the Heisman Trophy. This week, atop the BCS standings in the No. 1 spot is none other than the Auburn Tigers.

And judging from the comments from the talking heads on ESPN, radio sports shows and in print, the front runner — and not by just a head — for this year’s Heisman award is AU quarterback Cam Newton. In fact, if the voting were held today, Newton would win by a landslide!

It’s a well-known fact that in Alabama, football is the bomb, the most important thing in the state that lags behind in almost every other category (although not at the bottom of the numerous lists — thank God for Mississippi). If the two top college football programs in the state of Alabama win the national championship in successive years … and the top player from those No. 1 teams are back-to-back Heisman winners, no one can argue with the Legion Field proclamation. It will be obvious that Alabama is the “Football Capital of the South.”

And while we are talking about Alabama and Auburn, let’s talk Iron Bowl.

TV Schedule and Lines Below…
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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).

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