Top-ranked Alabama is chasing a rare perfect season
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Perfection is elusive, even for Nick Saban’s best teams at Alabama.
The top-ranked Crimson Tide heads into Saturday’s regular season finale against rival Auburn still chasing Southeastern Conference and national titles. An unblemished record remains in play, too, though that’s been even harder to obtain.
“Coach Saban voices that to us that he’s had only one undefeated team around here and he’s had how many championships,” Tide center Ross Pierschbacher said Monday. “It’s possible to lose one and still win a championship but he just wants us to not have that bump in the road, to still be able realize what we have in front of us.
“We don’t have to lose a game to kind of wake up. We should always be ready.”
Maybe that wake-up call came with a 10-10 halftime score against The Citadel, an FCS team. Alabama (11-0, 7-0 SEC) wound up running away with it, 50-17, but not without uneasy moments that included fumbling the second-half kickoff.
The Tide is a 24½-point favorite against the Tigers (7-4, 3-4). But Auburn spoiled ‘Bama’s bid for a perfect season a year ago, winning 26-14 to claim a spot in the SEC title game.
Alabama has already locked down a matchup with No. 5 Georgia in Atlanta.
Saban has led the Tide to five national championships over the last nine seasons, but only one perfect record, in 2009. Alabama hasn’t needed to win them all, having twice captured national titles after failing to win the SEC West.
Winning the national championship helped lessen the sting of losing the West plus state braggin’ rights, but not remove it altogether.
“I think the players all know what happened last year,” Saban said. “I think they don’t feel great about it. They didn’t feel good about last year. They’ve had to live with it for 365 days.
“I don’t necessarily think that the revenge factor is the best form of motivation out there, but I think it certainly plays into a guy that’s a good competitor who wants to come back and do well if he didn’t perform well the last time he played someone.”
MICHIGAN: Running back Karan Higdon pondered the question for a moment, smirked and glanced up at tight end Zach Gentry next to him. Then Higdon leaned forward to the microphone and predicted a Michigan victory over Ohio State.
It was the shot heard across the Midwest on Monday as the hype machine chugged to life for the 115th edition of The Game. The annual clash between the rivals is being played Saturday at Ohio Stadium, where Higdon just assured himself an even frostier welcome than usual.
There is a precedent for such prognostication, of course, albeit a generation ago.
Higdon’s coach, Jim Harbaugh, famously predicted a win over Ohio State as a player in 1986 and then backed it up, leading the Wolverines to a 26-24 win in Columbus.
The question went like this: “Would you go as far as Jim Harbaugh did and guarantee that Michigan will beat Ohio State?”
Higdon thought about for it a couple seconds.
“Yeah, I do,” said the senior from Sarasota, Florida . “That’s how I feel. I believe firmly in my brothers, my team, this coaching staff. And as a captain, I’ll take a stand. Why not?”
AWARD FINALISTS: Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams and Clemson defensive tackle Christian Wilkins were each named finalists for two of the nine awards to be presented Dec. 6 at the ESPN college Football Awards Show at the Hall of Fame in Atlanta.
Tagovailoa and Murray were each chosen as finalists for the Maxwell Award, which goes to the nation’s best player, and the Davey O’Brien Award, signifying best quarterback. The other Maxwell Award finalist is West Virginia quarterback Will Grier and the third O’Brien finalist is Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew II.
Williams and Wilkins are finalists for the Outland Trophy for best lineman and the Chuck Bednarik Award for defensive player of the year. NORTHERN ARIZONA: Coach Jerome Souers is stepping down as head football coach after 21 years of leading the Lumberjacks.
Souers went 123-114 overall and led the Lumberjacks to the FCS playoffs for the first time in four years last season.