Defending national champion Alabama would like to show it’s the team to beat once again, and that the Crimson Tide’s new starting quarterback either Cooper Bateman or Blake Barnett is capable of leading the way. It’s just high enough that I’m taking USC against the spread, but don’t be shocked if the win still feels comfortable for Alabama. He was head coach at Tennessee in 2009 and head coach at USC from 2010-13. There was mutual respect from the two longtime friends despite a different approach to the game, detailed in the 2013 documentary “Against the Tide”, which highlighted the 1970 matchup between the two titans.
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Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant welcomed the change. “He was the coach”.
But, when asked if he took anything positive from Kiffin’s time at USC, his reply was curt.
The Trojans are looking for their first Pac-12 championship since 2008, a drought that is closing on a decade.
USC has a long-standing tradition of great wide receivers: Lynn Swann (now the Director of Athletics at USC), Keyshawn Johnson, and more recent guys like Marqise Lee, Dwayne Jarrett and Robert Woods.
The Sooners, of course, are looking to return to the playoff after being dumped by Clemson in the semifinals past year.
Welcome back to USC football everyone, buckle up because this should be an exciting season for the Trojans. The Trojans have a 52-27 record since Carroll’s departure. Interim coach Clay Helton was given the full-time job, and his coordinators are Tee Martin on offense and Clancy Pendergast on defense.
No matter who comes out on top, this could be the most entertaining game of the weekend, and it has serious College Football Playoff implications on the line.
Alabama: RBs Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris take over for the departed Heisman Trophy victor Derrick Henry.
USC expects Kiffin to pound the ball inside against the Trojans’ thin defensive line. Helton realizes he will be compared to those dynastic teams of the past decade until he creates his own identity for the Trojans. But one new addition should stand out: fifth-year senior Stevie Tu’ikolovatu. Jones committed to USC on NSD and it was believed that Alabama was one of his finalist.
This will be Lane Kiffin’s last season at Alabama. It will be hard for any team to stop those two, but the Alabama defense also boasts the likes of linebackers Rashaan Evans and Ryan Anderson and defensive end Da’Shawn Hand, who each love to get after the quarterback.
One breakout star on last season’s defense was playmaking linebacker Cameron Smith, but the freshman missed the last four games with a knee injury. He, in fact, has claimed that he focused too much on X’s and O’s at USC instead of the totality of the program, and that’s at least partially true.
Unlike most voters in the AP and coaches polls, we’re not Wednesday to our previous rankings, so there’s a fresh look every week.
Going into the 1970 Alabama game, Cunningham said, “I was nervous”.
Alabama leads the all-time series 5-2.
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So, though Alabama might very well start out as the class of college football, the SEC as a conference does as well, and the Crimson Tide will need to operate at peak performance week in and week out. Alabama did open as a 10-point favorite before the line was bet up a point-and-a-half, while the total opened at 54 before dropping a half-point down to 53.5. He has the strongest arm of any USC QB since Carson Palmer. Robinson is one of the best O-line prospect the game has seen in years, he is the best left-tackle in college and is one of the best players in all of college football. But “Bama will keep the game in check defensively and this game will fall under”.
