For the 21st consecutive season, Alabama softball will play in the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide earned a No. 8 national seed in this year’s field of 64 and will host Arizona State, Lipscomb and Alabama State this upcoming weekend in Tuscaloosa.
Vegas put out its incredibly early over-under win totals for most of college football for 2019 recently.
We’re entering the time of year when it becomes challenging to come up with an interesting subject on a weekly basis.
While the NFL isn’t exactly the topic du jour around here, I could not be more fired up for the draft which starts Thursday night. No professional leagues’ draft comes within 100 yards of being as interesting, fun, compelling and captivating as that of the National Football League.
The Alabama football team concluded its spring season with the annual Golden Flake A-Day Game on Saturday afternoon in Bryant-Denny Stadium. The White team came out on top of Crimson, 31-17.
Alabama fans have plenty of reasons to feel confident heading into the 2019 season. It’s easy to overlook any perceived flaws — no matter how obvious — and hard not to be impressed with the litany of future NFL stars — and they are very obvious.
Before I get into this week’s column, let me say congrats to the Auburn basketball team. Making it to the Final Four is a dream come true and huge accomplishment. As a ’Bama fan, I am truly jealous.
Alabama’s next basketball hire will be a big one. The rest of the SEC isn’t going to wait for the Tide to catch up to the league’s increasingly lofty standards. Four rivals are in the Sweet 16 this year and the conference won’t be any easier next season.
Hang with me, y’all. I’m gonna be positive. Just going to think happy, happy thoughts!
As if breaking two Southeastern Conference records and winning four gold medals wasn’t enough for Benjamin Russell graduate Robert Howard, he also added a pair of huge honors — one academic and one athletic — after last weekend’s SEC Swimming & Diving Championships.
Major college athletics needs a commissioner — someone who is willing to listen to multiple arguments for improvement then make tough (even if unpopular) decisions, someone who understands today’s landscape of player empowerment while maintaining valuable traditions unique to college sports.
Another recruiting season, another No. 1 class for Nick Saban. Of course, it also means another article regarding my superlatives for said Alabama signing class.
Alabama men’s basketball coach Avery Johnson has done a pretty good job in his four years in Tuscaloosa. He promotes the program well, his record against top-25 teams is more than adequate, the scheduling has been pretty difficult and recruiting has been above average for sure.
It’s nine random thoughts because nine seems more random than 10.
The coaching profession in college football is a very lucrative business.
When it comes to Jalen Hurts’ career at Alabama, there were just so many obvious eventualities. They all were just a matter of time.
When Jalen Hurts entered the 2018 SEC Championship and brought Alabama back from the ashes against Georgia, you’d have thought Christ himself had walked out on the field in Atlanta.
Jalen Hurts is taking his talents to the University of Oklahoma.
Jalen Hurts is taking his talents to the University of Oklahoma.
There was a lot to be learned from last week’s national championship game.
If somebody told me Clemson would beat Alabama by 28 points Monday night, I probably would have offered a wager and lost every possession. I even suggested to a co-worker Monday morning Clemson hadn’t played anyone all season other than overrated Notre Dame and rising Syracuse. How in the wo…
Another year, another Monday night of travel for yours truly to watch Alabama in a national championship game (thus, with a Tuesday column, prohibiting my ability to write about said game). As I am writing this, I have no idea who won the game, who was the MVP or even how bad my hangover is …
The Alabama Crimson Tide suffered their worst loss under coach Nick Saban, and it came at the worst possible time. After leading Clemson early in the second quarter, the Tide were stymied by the Tigers’ defense and overwhelmed by their offense. It resulted in a lopsided victory in favor of C…
The No. 1 Alabama football team jumped out to a 28-0 lead and never looked back against No. 4 Oklahoma, winning 45-34 in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Last year I made two resolutions: Stop writing lazy, cliché articles and to quit procrastinating.
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You know… Maybe Alabama and Georgia ought to play more often. Outside of a thorough 2015 thrashing in Athens, these two teams have played arguably the best three games Atlanta has seen in any sport since 2012.
Down by 14 points at different points in the second and third quarter, the No. 1 Alabama football team stormed back to a 35-28 win over No. 4 Georgia in the 2018 Southeastern Conference Championship on Saturday in Atlanta.
College Football Playoff prediction columns are all the rage right now, so I might as well join in the fun.
Rivalry week gave us a lot of numerical talking points — improbable upsets, historical stats and milestone achievements.
With time running out, Alabama had the Iron Bowl won. Leading 17-15, all the Tide had to do was run out the clock. Assigned to write the game story — and design the remaining Sunday sports pages for the Opelika-Auburn News — I bolted from Jordan-Hare Stadium on this crisp November night and …
The longstanding annual grudge match between Auburn and Alabama will be played Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium and it looks to be a classic David versus Goliath matchup.
A lot of national sports talk centered around the Southeastern Conference’s lax football schedule last weekend. Alabama hosted The Citadel, Auburn welcomed Liberty, Georgia took on Massachusetts, etc. Even pundits you think would be more SEC-centric (such as Greg McElroy) took potshots at th…
Playing against a top-five opponent Saturday night, Auburn jumped out to an early lead and looked to play the part of spoiler, but No. 5 Georgia proved to be too much as the Tigers dropped a 27-10 decision on the road.
Auburn scored two late touchdowns to overcome a 10-point deficit, beating No. 25 Texas A&M 28-24 Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Just a few years ago, Robert Howard was in Alexander City trying to figure out how to have a successful athletic career as a swimmer despite Benjamin Russell not having a team.
Here are a few random thoughts from around the sports world…
The grumbling tweets began sometime after Alabama jumped on top of Tennessee 14-0 early in the first quarter.
I asked this about a year ago, so it bears asking again … can anyone beat Alabama? If so, who and how? Gus Malzahn and Auburn answered the question last fall, but considering the problems on the Plains, a repeat of 2017 is highly unlikely.
It’s been a minute since Tennessee beat Alabama on the gridiron. Well, several minutes. Well more than 9 million minutes, actually.
I could pump sunshine and tell you Auburn is a playoff contender. But c’mon, offensive struggles tell us that’s far from the truth. I could paint a doomsday scenario where the Tigers are about to free fall from relevancy into the pit of a disastrous season. A free fall of some sort is possib…
Preseason polls are scrutinized every year. Critics claim early voting leads to misconceptions and team biases. While I agree in theory, the polls do generally work themselves out when it comes to the top teams.
It’s easy to forget about special teams. It’s rare you see a big play in the return game and aside from a game-winning field goal, the only time you hear about the kicker, the punter or the coverage teams are when they’re not doing their job.
By CHRIS BRANTNER
Miscellaneous thoughts from around the college football universe…
Statement: an expression of an attitude or belief that is made by means of actions or appearance.”
As expected, both Auburn and Alabama dominated Saturday, with the Tigers defeating Alabama State, 63-9, and the Crimson Tide downing Arkansas State, 57-7.
Questions, questions, questions. I’m full of them about Auburn’s football team. Sure, the Tigers enter the season ranked No. 9, have a legit defensive front seven and arguably the program’s best passer since Pat Sullivan, but you can’t ignore those giant question marks that litter the lineup.
Finally, it’s time. It was a long, arduous summer, but we made it to football season. Congratulations to us all.
Eli Gold is used to being in the spotlight. He is, after all, “the voice” of one of the most storied college football programs in history.
The University of Alabama football team took part in its first scrimmage of the fall Saturday afternoon at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The scrimmage lasted roughly 130 plays and just over two hours on a sunny and muggy afternoon in Tuscaloosa.
