saban Page 8 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
CFP is as easy as 1-2-3… or 2-3-4
For weeks, we’ve been dissecting, diagramming, and divining what the College Football Playoff might or should look like at the end of this zany season, and then Saturday’s conference championships came along and made everything pretty darn clear....
Here’s a workaround for enjoying Alabama’s talent without enduring ‘Roll Tide!’ chants
As a life ethos, I don’t watch Alabama unless it’s the title game. Not the SEC title game, THE title game. I take that back, I watch the title game and as much of the Tennessee-Alabama game as my girlfriend can stand. They’re too good even for their loaded conference, so save for a title game or ups...
Capping NCAA coaches’ pay isn’t the answer
Brian Kelly just left a Notre Dame team in playoff contention for $95 million. Lincoln Riley said good-bye to his SEC future and reportedly took $110 millon to attempt to revive a mediocre USC program. Ed Orgeron can sit at home doing nothing but drinking beer and eating gumbo for the next four year...
Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is my college football team to be good
The idea of getting back to a previous, dominant form is antithetical to moving forward. By looking back and chasing past eras, schools like USC, Miami, Nebraska and others are envisioning levels of dominance that are extremely rare and difficult to replicate — or in some cases *cough* Texas *cough*...
Why even play the games, CFP committee?
The second set of College Football Playoff rankings was released last night, much to the dismay of anyone who really still thought the playoff committee wasn’t microdosing quaaludes every Saturday before turning on the television. For those of you out there thinking, you just complained about this l...
CFP Rankings: Could Michigan State come in as the 2-seed?
Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, the first official rankings for the College Football Playoff will be announced. We can all safely assume that Georgia will hold the top spot, but the second spot is where things start to get interesting. There are several teams who could make an argument for the two-seed. ...
LSU, USC head coach candidate deniers auditioning for vacancies this weekend
I’m about as sick of the college football coaching carousel chatter as Mike Tomlin. I know reporters are obligated to ask these questions, but it’s like asking a child standing in front of a puddle of spilt milk, “Did you do this?” There needs to be a word for asking a question you know you’re not g...
Somehow the 'BuT-tHe-AmATeUR-MoDeL!' NCAA survived the beginning of NIL
We’re approaching the four-month mark since the NCAA officially approved name, image, and likeness rights for student-athletes and, somehow, the apocalypse has not come, the collegiate model has not collapsed, and Dabo Swinney is still coaching (to some extent, at least). As athletes, schools, spons...
The Mannings are back to try to save a far-from-marquee <em>Monday Night Football</em> matchup
The Manning brothers took a one-fifth season hiatus, but they were back yesterday for the fourth Manningcast of the 2021 NFL Season. Eli and Peyton returned to their respective dens, or basements, or whatever on ESPN2 providing their commentary on a low-scoring Saints-Seahawks Monday Night Football ...
You need to win more than just games at the U, Manny
The Miami Hurricanes are 2-4 and their athletic director is saying things like, “Everyone’s constantly being evaluated,” which is AD speak for “Manny Diaz needs to start winning or I’m gonna lose my job, too.”...
Pitt is a three-point favorite against Clemson this weekend… how did it come to this?
Yep, you read that right. The University of Pittsburgh is favored Saturday against the formerly formidable Clemson Tigers — the same team that made appearances in six College Football Playoffs in a span of six years, winning two championships along the way. With the way Dabo Swinney’s team is playin...
Like a comet streaking across the sky, a rare look into the personable side of Nick Saban
For the second time this season, we’ve been privileged to get a glimpse into the part of Alabama coach Nick Saban that’s not a myopic, grumpy, brooding football coach. In September, Alabama safety Jordan Battle told the media that Saban loves a good “deez nuts” joke, much to the chagrin of what soun...
The formula for beating Alabama remains the same
Alabama just got beat for the first time in close to two years on Saturday. ...
Unbeaten Oklahoma on road to playoff, unbeaten Cincinnati not so much
Enjoy it now, Cincinnati, because they’re going to find a way to screw you over in the end....
Adam Gase always leaves winning in his wake
Adam Gase is known for two things: having crazy eyes and losing football games. The man fooled dozens of NFL teams into thinking he was capable of coaching an NFL team. He rode the success of Peyton Manning in Denver into not one, but two head coaching gigs. ...
Will Urban Meyer join Belichick, Saban and a who’s who of others on football’s ‘Quit List?’
For Urban Meyer, January probably feels like it happened eight years ago, instead of eight months ago....
Now we may know why Richie Burke is no longer coaching the Washington Spirit
NWSL was all the buzz last night, and sadly it wasn’t for what the league will be with the returning Olympians. The Washington Spirit have a controversy on their hands. Coach Richie Burke was “kicked upstairs” earlier in the week by the team, citing health reasons. However, according to the Washingt...
Idiots of the Month: Dumb stuff from July
Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE MONTH! The year is 2021. The whole world has gone stupid. Behold....
NIL cash already in the millions for Bryce Young, who has only taken a handful of snaps
Since the new NIL rules have gone into place, which allows college athletes to profit from their own likenesses, the new starting quarterback for Alabama has already made a whole pile of money. Bryce Young, the sophomore former-five star recruit, has only 22 pass attempts in college football....