Tide, Hogs playing for third place

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Tide, Hogs playing for third place

Saturday, September 23, 2006

So what's really at stake today in Hog Heaven?

Is it Houston Nutt's job? Is it Mike Shula's upward mobility as a head coach?

Or it something a little more simple? Something that few Alabama fans have thought about?

What's at stake today in this nationally televised game is third place in the SEC West. Ugh!

Now, before you start thinking that's really not too bad, consider for a moment there are probably a handful of high school teams who could beat the bottom feeders in this division -- Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

Barring injuries, Auburn will probably win this division and LSU is likely to secure second place, with the winner of this game today coming in third.

The oddsmakers have listed Arkansas as a narrow favorite, which in the parlance of Las Vegas points toward Alabama as the better team by a hair (factoring in home-field advantage for the Hogs).

What does it say when the best way to gauge this game is by looking at how the two teams have done against Vanderbilt? Alabama beat Vandy by three in the second week of the season and Arkansas toppled the Commodores by two in the third week.

Advantage: Nobody.

Arkansas has a loss on the schedule, a 50-14 bloodletting at the hands of Southern Cal. But at least the Hogs have played someone. Alabama has been feasting off Hawaii and Louisiana-Monroe.

Some Alabama fans can brag that the record is 3-0. However, what do you think it would be if the Tide had walked in the Razorbacks' footsteps and opened at home with Southern Cal, then played Vandy on the road? Would the record be 2-1 or 1-2?

I was in Little Rock on Monday and the air was permeated by the scent of dripping blood in the water for Houston Nutt. A loss to the Tide and his future will be a fait accompli. If Arkansas loses today, Nutt won't just be working on plays come Monday, he'll be calling Two Men and a Truck for an estimate.

Shula can certainly handle a loss better. As we all know, he is in the first year of a new contract and coming off a 10-2 season and a No. 8 national ranking. Shula is 13-2 over the past 15 games, even better than Tommy Tuberville, who comes in at 12-3 during the same period.

However, Tuberville's Auburn team is a serious national championship contender. Shula's Alabama team has yet even to be included in the category of pretenders.

In the wake of a miserable offseason, thanks mainly to Shula's colossal bungling of the Juwan Simpson suspension, a loss today would sting. And there would be no recovery time considering the Tide will be staring down the barrel of a gun better known as The Swamp next Saturday.

A two-week losing streak would dishearten those Alabama fans who have been so hopeful that the Tide can finish with another lofty record like last year.

So it's pretty simple what's at stake here today. It may only be third place in the SEC West. However, at this point in Shula's career at Alabama, it's a start.

Bear Bryant was often fond of saying, "Winning isn't everything, but it sure beats coming in second." With a win today against the Hogs, we're not suggesting Shula utter: "A likely third-place finish in the SEC West isn't everything, but it sure beats coming in fourth."

However, it would be much better than the alternative.