Julio Jones, one of Alabama's leaders. Image: Newscom

The question remains, though – does Alabama deserve a rematch with Florida? There’s no question that team deserves the SEC West title. LSU is the only other team that even comes close to Alabama’s talent and skill. Some are questioning, however, whether a game against Florida is really worth the time.The Gators are dominating the SEC East and with Tebow on the field, a title game may seem like a bit of a formality.

Here’s what I have to say to those commenters: it is Florida you should be questioning, not Alabama.

The Crimson Tide started the season against Virginia Tech, a team that was ranked #7 at the time and is still ranked as #21 in the BCS standings. Admittedly, they had some easy games with teams like Florida International, North Texas, and Arkansas. However, along with LSU, they also beat Mississippi (ranked #20 at the time) and South Carolina (ranked #22 at the time).

Let’s look at Florida’s schedule now. Charleston Southern. Troy. Vanderbilt. The only ranked team they played all season was LSU, and that was a fairly abysmal game. The Gators only won 13 – 3. Of course, the team did play a handful of games without Tebow, so it’s maybe hard to really evaluate the team.

To me, this isn’t Florida’s fault as much as it is a symptoms of the current BCS set-up. Teams have learned that they can come out on top if they pad their schedule with teams like Charleston Southern, as long as they still play most of the teams in their conference. Is this good football? No. Most of the teams in the top 10 could have performed as well as Florida with their schedule.

I think the SEC title game will be really interesting. It’ll be the first true test for Florida, and the first time Alabama will be fighting an uphill battle.

Post from: EveryJoe

Alabama: Deserving of the SEC Title Game?

Lane Kiffin, Image: Newscom

Recently, Kiffin spoke with WGFX in Tennessee about his job, and he attributes his antics to the fact that the SEC is very, very passionate about football. I wouldn’t totally disagree with him.

The best example I can give you is that in our first year at Southern Cal, there were 45,000 people in the stands and that’s a pretty powerful school. At Tennessee, even when it’s down at times, we’re still selling out the stadium. So I think that speaks volumes about the issue.

You can read more about the interview and listen to the whole thing at Sports Radio Interviews.

Post from: EveryJoe

Lane Kiffin Talks about SEC Passion

Image: Newscom

The culprit? Lane Kiffin was suspected, but the real criminal here was South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier. Spurrier has said that the vote for Old Miss’ Jevon Snead was a mistake. Apparently, he wasn’t the one who filled out his ballot – the director of operations did it. Spurrier just ok’ed it, missing the vote for Snead over Tebow.

Honestly…who cares? Tebow wasn’t a unanimous selection. It wasn’t like he almost ddn’t mae it or comething. Spurrier has since called Charles Bloom of the SEC to officially change his vote, but again…so what? He also said he lost sleep over the matter.

Now that’s going a little far, don’t you think?

Post from: EveryJoe

Tebow Whodunit Solved

Mike Slive, Image: Newscom

Slive didn’t go into the speech with notes, but he says that his whole being was behind every word.

“We’ve made tremendous progress on keeping the news about the players and not about matters that take place off the field. And I reiterated that,” Slive said of the behind-closed-doors talk.

Many of the problems between coaches have been centered on Lane Kiffin, who has sparred with Steve Spurrier, as well as coaches and staff members at Florida and Alabama. Kiffin was noticably embarrassed, since obviously many of the comments were made in his direction, but the other coaches of the SEC haven’t been angels either. At least, not all of them.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mike Slive is not Amused

Image: Newscom

That number isn’t HUGE, considering that there’s usually a mass exodus when a school brings in a new coach. What really hurts, though, is that Kiffin is losing some huge assets to the Tennessee team. He’s also gone on record as saying that he doesn’t want to coach anyone who doesn’t want to be a Volunteer, which to me sounds like a little disgruntled dig at the players choosing to leave. Those who’s announced their impending departures are:

1. B.J. Coleman, quarterback
2. Ahmad Paige, wide receiver
3. E.J. Abrams-Ward, wide receiver
4. Tyler Maples, wide receiver
5. Demetrice Morley, safety
6. Lennon Creer, tailback
7. Donald Langley, lineman
8. Darius Myers, lineman
9. Ramone Johnson, lineman
10. Preston Bailey, lineman
11. Darris Sawtelle, lineman

Under NCAA rules, Tennessee can have up to 85 scholarship players on the team each season, so this does open up some wiggle room for Kiffin to recruit more freshmen or talk to players who intend to leave other schools.

An interesting note: a number of these players decided to leave only after spring practice with Kiffin. So, they’re giving him a chance at least – but to some, looks like he’s not really living up to standards…

Post from: EveryJoe

Mass Exodus from Tennessee

And when I say “big” I mean $3 million dollars big so that they can settle a stock dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission over some dirty stock dealings.

Christopher Conte, an S.E.C. attorney in Washington overseeing the case said, “Take-Two’s seven-year backdating scheme was egregious and pervasive, and caused the company to materially misrepresent its financial condition to investors.”

This came from Wikipedia [the knower of all knows]:

Options backdating is the practice of granting an employee stock option that is dated prior to the date that the company actually granted the option. This practice raises a number of legal and accounting issues. The practice of backdating itself is not illegal, nor is granting of discounted stock options. What is illegal is the improper disclosures, both in financial records and in filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Shame, shame, Take-Two.

Maybe now that this is finally cleared up, they can again focus on making games.

Image|TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Post from: EveryJoe

Take-Two Interactive to Pay 3 Million Bucks