Press saying: "Bama 11-0 in 2005!"

[DKW 86 7,431]

And the press continue to say great things about Alabama

Are you ready for some football?

By Jared Felkins

Sand Mountain Reporter

Published July 14, 2005

A package was on my desk Wednesday morning as I searched for a column idea this week. My search was quickly over.

It will soon be college football time in Alabama, and Phil Steele will prepare me for it. Steele sent The Reporter a box full of college football preview magazines, including his 2005 SEC Football Preview. Reporter Sports Editor Shannon Allen was kind enough to forward it to me with a note, “here is your column idea.”

Of course in my hectic schedule of meetings, layouts, more meetings and story production, it’s easy to lose track of the important things in life. I thank Shannon for making me realize the important things in life. Folks, we are just a little over a month away from kickoff.

Don’t believe me? Just check out my old Alma Mater’s Web site at www.rolltide.com. The kind folks at the Capstone have been gracious enough to include a countdown to kickoff, right down to the last second. I can just smell the anticipation.

So, with Phil Steele’s help, I want to offer you a quick prediction list of some of our more popular college football teams. We’ll see how right I am at the end of the season.

I said it last year and I’ll say it again. Alabama will be as successful as senior quarterback Brodie Croyle will let them. Brodie’s time in crimson has been plagued with injury. It would be nice to see Brodie complete at least one season healthy with the Tide, but only God can control that.

If Croyle can stay healthy, the young talent that surrounds him will follow suit. The good news is that if Croyle does go down, there are two talented quarterbacks this year who can step up in junior Marc Guillon and freshman John Parker Wilson.

As always, the Tide will be strong on defense. Led by senior middle linebacker Freddie Roach, senior strong safety Charlie Peprah and senior linebacker DeMeco Ryans, expect to see at least one All-American in the bunch.

It’s no secret Alabama went .500 last season. If you take away a very banged-up team and a few questionable calls (at Tennessee especially), Alabama was easily 10-2.    Being a lot healthier and a little more depth will help them improve on 6-6 from 2004.

I’m happy to see Alabama, despite some of its fans, decided to extend head coach Mike Shula’s contract. I think Shula’s best years of coaching are yet to come, and it’s good to see they will be wearing crimson.

As far as predictions go, I see Alabama undefeated going into the first weekend in October when they host Florida. From there, the next three games will be the toughest test for the Tide.

The Tennessee game on Oct. 22 might be particularly interesting since Phil Fulmer will be making his first trip back to the Heart of Dixie since the fiasco started with the NCAA and former Tide coaches Ronnie Cottrell and Ivy Williams.

Alabama finishes up with two strong SEC opponents in LSU on Nov. 12 and Auburn on the Plains to round out the season. If Alabama and Croyle stay healthy, I see the Tide going undefeated in the regular season, and possibly playing for a shot at the National Championship. Don’t overlook a rematch with Tennessee in Atlanta to get there, though.

Which brings me to Auburn. Don’t think that I am going to downplay the Tigers just because they are my team’s rival foe. In fact, I picked the Men in Blue to finish well above the Tide last year.

The Tigers did lose a heck of a lot of talent with quarterback Jason Campbell and running backs Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown graduating. Sophomore quarterback Brandon Cox is a talented one, though. I see Auburn’s passing attack just as strong when you have targets like senior Anthony Mix, senior Devin Aromashodu and senior Ben Obomanu to hit.

On defense, senior linebacker Travis Williams might just be the best in the SEC. He is literally surrounded with a host of guys ready to step up.

In terms of schedule, the season opener with Georgia Tech will be the true test for the Tigers. If Auburn gets past the Yellow Jackets, it could be smooth sailing until a Nov. 12 scrap at Georgia. (   I guess he forgot about ) The Battle Between the Hedges should be interesting.

A lighter SEC schedule this year will propel the Tigers to a 9-2 finish.

So there you have it. Thanks Phil for the books. Thanks Shannon for the idea. All that’s left to do now is kick off.

[BoJtrueAUman 4]

can I have some of what he is smokin'?

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

I wrote him an email and called him a hack. I feel so ashamed.

Not really.

[TrueBlue72 0]

Someone I know who desires to remain unnamed wrote the following letter to the editor of the Sand Mountain Reporter.

We jest read that story that Felkins wroted and we shore are glad that somebody reconnizes jest how good the Tide is gonna be this year. Uncle Walt and me have been tellin all the folks that we're gonna be undefeeted come Decembur. After we clobber those Aubbies, everone is gonna know we're back! And Brodie.... he's gonna finlly win that hiseman that shulda been his last year until he got hurted agin.

We shore are happy that theres sombody else that is smart enuf to know what we know!

Roll Tide Roll

[WarTim 3,456]

Bet the "Sand Mountain Reporter" sold a whole lot of papers to the mullet nation!

[AuNuma1 1]

uat could've "easily" been 10-2? Are we sure this didn't come from some bamaham media outlet? Where exactly is Sand Mountain?

[Aubie16 1]

HA..

So Georgia Tech is a tougher test than LSU?

and he also mentions three Auburn recievers but leaves out the best one Courtney Taylor.

are we sure this guy is actually a sports reporter?

[SouthLink02 8]

can I have some of what he is smokin'?

169239[/snapback]

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

Sand Mountain is north of Gadsden and is home to towns such as Pisgah, Boaz, and Fort Payne.

He is not only a sports reporter, but the managing editor.

He did respond to my email calling him an uninformed hack (there was more to it than that, but that was the nutshell version) and said that his goal was to stir up controversy and commentary, of which he succeeded.

Goes to my theory that all reporter/journalists are attention hounds that try to create the news, not just report it.

[vatz22au 142]

Thats freakin hillarious," Hey due to some missed calls and injuries...6-6 could easily be a 10-2 season".....WTF!

[AUesquire 1]

Phil Steele was on the local sports talk show this morning. He makes bold predictions and loves to give himself huge props for the ones that come to pass. You don't ever hear him talk about the ones he blew. For instance, last year, Chokelahoma's defense was supposed to be quite possibly, the best defense ever assembled in the history of college football. Bama was a dark horse for the SEC and national titles...again. And AU would probably finish 3rd in the west behind LSU and Bama.

This year, he says LSU and USC are the hands down pick to play for it all and Bama is again, a dark horse for the NC. The talk show host asked him how important the loss of offensive coordinators would be to those teams and Steele responded..."Just look how important that was to Auburn last year, but now he's at Texas."

I'm sorry Phil, did you actually do ANY research before you said that?

[weaglewagon 1]

at least he honestly doesn't feel that way. if so, man oh man. feel sorry for the dude. .............wait, not so much! he went to UAT. moron.

[cadillacattack 0]

If Croyle can stay healthy

If you take away a very banged-up team and a few questionable calls

If Alabama and Croyle stay healthy

[Raven_tiger 5]

Thanks David. It's Monday I needed the comic relief...

[bammanmr 0]

Ifs and buts were candy and nuts.......

The kool-aid sure flows freely in rural N Alabama. I wonder if bammer is going to claim their 13th MNC from the Sand Mountain Rag. You know 'tha bahr' would.

[alexgreatau 0]

I'm loving every last minute of this UAT national championship talk. Instead of discouraging this print, we should embrace it.

Let the boys in Crimson believe that they are on the brink of a championship season. Let them absorb the media accolades on how good they're gonna be this year, although a ball has yet to be snappend and hit has yet to be made.

Remember what happened to our team two years ago. Too much hype, too many articles, too many predictions, too many photo ops. In 2003, while our guys were talking championship, teams like USC, UGA, and LSU were licking their chops in preparation for us. Those teams knew then, what our boys know now, that championships are won on the field and not in the Sporting News preseason poll. More importantly, those teams had experience and had won championships before.

Although we lost four players to the first round of the draft, I'll take the guys we have now over any other team in the SEC and it's not because I'm an Auburn fan. I'll take our boys because our boys know what it takes to win. They've played in big regular season games, SEC Championship game, and the Sugar Bowl. In all of these games, they emerged victorious.

In the last six years, how many top ten teams has UAT defeated? Even when Auburn was 8-5 in 2003, we still defeated top ten Tennessee and Arkansas that year

Let's assume for one second here that UAT is focused and knows how to win, which in reality is not the case. Case in point: 4-9 and 6-6 the last two season with no significant victories. How are they going to deal with the lack of debth, which every football fan knows is essential to winning 10+ games in one season, even in the Pac Ten? Are their 2nd and 3rd string guys capable of performing well on the field when the first teamers go down with injuries? Do they have enough experience to replace the starters at a moment's notice? The answer is unequivocally no.

If Brodie does not have an offensive line to protect him, then his arm and experience will not be an issue in '05. He will incessantly see stars while on his back. In the last two seasons, UAT has imploded in the second half of every game and not because of bad Mike Shula coaching.

Plus, like Tennessee, UAT's secondary is suspect. They've been bad for a long time now. They were ranked so highly defensively as a unit because they didn't face a great passer, with the exception of Jason Campbell. More importantly, Minnesota whipped the floor clean with UAT's defense.

Pick UAT all you want. Let them talk while we prepare.

Alex

[TigerFreak 6]

And the press continue to say great things about Alabama

Are you ready for some football?

By Jared Felkins

Sand Mountain Reporter

Published July 14, 2005

A package was on my desk Wednesday morning as I searched for a column idea this week. My search was quickly over.

It will soon be college football time in Alabama, and Phil Steele will prepare me for it. Steele sent The Reporter a box full of college football preview magazines, including his 2005 SEC Football Preview. Reporter Sports Editor Shannon Allen was kind enough to forward it to me with a note, “here is your column idea.”

Of course in my hectic schedule of meetings, layouts, more meetings and story production, it’s easy to lose track of the important things in life. I thank Shannon for making me realize the important things in life. Folks, we are just a little over a month away from kickoff.

Don’t believe me? Just check out my old Alma Mater’s Web site at www.rolltide.com. The kind folks at the Capstone have been gracious enough to include a countdown to kickoff, right down to the last second. I can just smell the anticipation.

So, with Phil Steele’s help, I want to offer you a quick prediction list of some of our more popular college football teams. We’ll see how right I am at the end of the season.

I said it last year and I’ll say it again. Alabama will be as successful as senior quarterback Brodie Croyle will let them. Brodie’s time in crimson has been plagued with injury. It would be nice to see Brodie complete at least one season healthy with the Tide, but only God can control that.

If Croyle can stay healthy, the young talent that surrounds him will follow suit. The good news is that if Croyle does go down, there are two talented quarterbacks this year who can step up in junior Marc Guillon and freshman John Parker Wilson.

As always, the Tide will be strong on defense. Led by senior middle linebacker Freddie Roach, senior strong safety Charlie Peprah and senior linebacker DeMeco Ryans, expect to see at least one All-American in the bunch.

It’s no secret Alabama went .500 last season. If you take away a very banged-up team and a few questionable calls (at Tennessee especially), Alabama was easily 10-2.    Being a lot healthier and a little more depth will help them improve on 6-6 from 2004.

I’m happy to see Alabama, despite some of its fans, decided to extend head coach Mike Shula’s contract. I think Shula’s best years of coaching are yet to come, and it’s good to see they will be wearing crimson.

As far as predictions go, I see Alabama undefeated going into the first weekend in October when they host Florida. From there, the next three games will be the toughest test for the Tide.

The Tennessee game on Oct. 22 might be particularly interesting since Phil Fulmer will be making his first trip back to the Heart of Dixie since the fiasco started with the NCAA and former Tide coaches Ronnie Cottrell and Ivy Williams.

Alabama finishes up with two strong SEC opponents in LSU on Nov. 12 and Auburn on the Plains to round out the season. If Alabama and Croyle stay healthy, I see the Tide going undefeated in the regular season, and possibly playing for a shot at the National Championship. Don’t overlook a rematch with Tennessee in Atlanta to get there, though.

Which brings me to Auburn. Don’t think that I am going to downplay the Tigers just because they are my team’s rival foe. In fact, I picked the Men in Blue to finish well above the Tide last year.

The Tigers did lose a heck of a lot of talent with quarterback Jason Campbell and running backs Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown graduating. Sophomore quarterback Brandon Cox is a talented one, though. I see Auburn’s passing attack just as strong when you have targets like senior Anthony Mix, senior Devin Aromashodu and senior Ben Obomanu to hit.

On defense, senior linebacker Travis Williams might just be the best in the SEC. He is literally surrounded with a host of guys ready to step up.

In terms of schedule, the season opener with Georgia Tech will be the true test for the Tigers. If Auburn gets past the Yellow Jackets, it could be smooth sailing until a Nov. 12 scrap at Georgia. (   I guess he forgot about ) The Battle Between the Hedges should be interesting.

A lighter SEC schedule this year will propel the Tigers to a 9-2 finish.

So there you have it. Thanks Phil for the books. Thanks Shannon for the idea. All that’s left to do now is kick off.

169237[/snapback]

That guy is dilusional

[Aubie16 1]

I'm loving every last minute of this UAT national championship talk. Instead of discouraging this print, we should embrace it.

Let the boys in Crimson believe that they are on the brink of a championship season. Let them absorb the media accolades on how good they're gonna be this year, although a ball has yet to be snappend and hit has yet to be made.

Remember what happened to our team two years ago. Too much hype, too many articles, too many predictions, too many photo ops. In 2003, while our guys were talking championship, teams like USC, UGA, and LSU were licking their chops in preparation for us. Those teams knew then, what our boys know now, that championships are won on the field and not in the Sporting News preseason poll. More importantly, those teams had experience and had won championships before.

Although we lost four players to the first round of the draft, I'll take the guys we have now over any other team in the SEC and it's not because I'm an Auburn fan. I'll take our boys because our boys know what it takes to win. They've played in big regular season games, SEC Championship game, and the Sugar Bowl. In all of these games, they emerged victorious.

In the last six years, how many top ten teams has UAT defeated? Even when Auburn was 8-5 in 2003, we still defeated top ten Tennessee and Arkansas that year

Let's assume for one second here that UAT is focused and knows how to win, which in reality is not the case. Case in point: 4-9 and 6-6 the last two season with no significant victories. How are they going to deal with the lack of debth, which every football fan knows is essential to winning 10+ games in one season, even in the Pac Ten? Are their 2nd and 3rd string guys capable of performing well on the field when the first teamers go down with injuries? Do they have enough experience to replace the starters at a moment's notice? The answer is unequivocally no.

If Brodie does not have an offensive line to protect him, then his arm and experience will not be an issue in '05. He will incessantly see stars while on his back. In the last two seasons, UAT has imploded in the second half of every game and not because of bad Mike Shula coaching.

Plus, like Tennessee, UAT's secondary is suspect. They've been bad for a long time now. They were ranked so highly defensively as a unit because they didn't face a great passer, with the exception of Jason Campbell. More importantly, Minnesota whipped the floor clean with UAT's defense.

Pick UAT all you want. Let them talk while we prepare.

Alex

169261[/snapback]

One heck of a post!

[WarTim 3,456]

Alex is a GENIUS. WAR EAGLE ! ! !

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

Alex, you are quickly becoming a very respected part of the aunation. Your posts are always well thought out, provacative and interesting, not to mention well-written. Keep it coming, man!

[06TungstenGT 0]

I live in Albertville in the "Heart of Sand Mountain", and I do not subscribe to this lousy excuse for a news publication. This guy is one of the many reasons why.

I believe Felkins will write about any junk the editors will allow.

For example:

Last month my wife took my 3 yr old nephew to the Albertville Rec swimming pool, and Felkins was there interviewing kids about their summer swim and taking pictures. Wow, what an assignment! Felkins noticed my nephew jumping off the diving board for his first time, and took a picture of my nephew. He proceeded to to talk to my wife and nephew, then told them my nephew would be in the paper's article.

Big mistake!

My nephew got all excited. Then the paper comes out...and no mention and no picture. My wife emails Jared and rips into him for crushing my nephew's hopes of being in the paper.

Needless to say, the next publication had his picture and name.

Last month writing about the local swimming pool and now about UAT's 05 championship. Next month he'll do an article on "Back to School". What a joke!

[OKieAuburnDoug 1]

"questionable calls"?

The main one had to be Cory Websster shoving down the Bama WR and completely swinging the game into LSU's favor...no call...Course Bama benefitted from bad officiating in the 4th Q of the Iron bowl..

[AUloggerhead 2,243]

So according to this reporter, uat is to go 11-0 this season. Interesting to note that the prediction stops at 11 games. What, no confidence to predict the outcome of the SECCG or the bowl game? I guess the prospect of meeting & beating UT twice in one season is too much to bear. WDE

[Rockthecasbah6 0]

Goes to my theory that all reporter/journalists are attention hounds that try to create the news, not just report it.

169250[/snapback]

I'm sure that everyone who does your daily job fits a stereotype too.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

Goes to my theory that all reporter/journalists are attention hounds that try to create the news, not just report it.

169250[/snapback]

I'm sure that everyone who does your daily job fits a stereotype too.

169397[/snapback]

Sorry if I offended you, Rock. Between this and the fan stereotype comment I made the other day, you are busting my chops on a regular basis. You are correct, I should not have used "all", but rather "some". Using absolutes is always a bad practice.

Again, these are not hard and fast rules. How about this stereotype: All Auburn coeds are good looking. Can we agree on that one?