Free Republic

Nick Saban’s retiring as the University of Alabama football coach, ESPN reported Wednesday afternoon, turning a long inevitability into a stark reality and sending shockwaves throughout the college football world. It ends arguably the greatest run in college football history where the once famously-nomadic Saban finally planted roots and rebuilt a decaying empire. By reviving a struggling Crimson Tide program — winning 80.6% of his games and seven national titles — Saban placed his name among the all-time greats. That includes Paul “Bear” Bryant, the Alabama coach from six whose national title mark Saban passed in 2020.

The Michigan Wolverines were seemingly pulling hard for Florida State to get into the playoff. The 13-0 Seminoles were left out in favor of 12-1 Alabama. The Crimson Tide will meet the Wolverines in the first round. Michigan is currently a -1.5 favorite on DraftKings. It should be a great game. However, Michigan wasn’t happy about it. The team’s reaction to learning Alabama – not Florida State – is the four seed was muted at best and downright not happy at worst. There was some very light clapping after stunned silence and great disappointment. Those two videos really say it...

A pass interference call wiped out a crucial interception for the Crimson Tide in the loss at Tennessee. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama has officially been penalized more than any other team in the country. After the Crimson Tide got called for a program-record 17 penalties Saturday against Tennessee, it's no surprise that penalties were a major theme of Nick Saban's Monday press conference. Whether it be pass interference, which wiped out a game-sealing interception for the second week in a row, or pre-snap infractions, or special teams penalties that negated big gains, Saban is frustrated with it all. Depending on...

While one has never been sighted in Arkansas, Sam Pittman hopeful he can document its existence this weekend FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Most people don't believe it's a real thing, but there is scientific evidence that a Loser Saban exists deep in the woods of the Southeast United States. Plenty of people know about the more dominant species, the Nick Saban, which can be found from as far south as Florida, as far west as Texas, and as far north as Kentucky and northern parts of Missouri. There have even been reports that Nick Sabans might soon move into parts of...

There’s not exactly a silver medal ceremony after the College Football Playoff championship game. The confetti drops and the champion gets their trophy as the losing team trudges to a sad locker room. At some point, however, a rarely seen piece of hardware arrives for Team B...... “It’s a participation trophy,” he said bluntly. “You made it but you didn’t do anything. You didn’t win. I wouldn’t say we fully turned the page but there’s always going to be something that externally motivates us. Yeah, that’s all I’ve got to say.”..... In a video that quickly went viral, then-strength and...

In under 20 minutes, the Tuscaloosa Police Department responded to an emergency call and successfully disposed of the taco delivery.The Tuscaloosa Police Department had an exciting Valentine's Day, and it started with an early morning phone call from an employee at the Tuscaloosa Federal Courthouse. According to the Tuscaloosa News, the courthouse worker reported a pair of suspicious packages on the building's front steps, and several officers were immediately sent to the scene. Within a few minutes, the cops had blocked the streets to both vehicles and pedestrians, and cautiously approached the two unidentified items that had been left on...

Top Democrat election lawyer Marc Elias called third-party ballot gathering one of "four pillars" to success. ************************************************************************** Eight months before the contentious November 2020 election, the Democrats' top election lawyer penned an article on a site frequented by voting activists suggesting that ballot harvesting — a tactic, outlawed in most states, in which third-party activists gather and deliver voters' ballots — be made lawful in order for Democrats to succeed. Marc Elias not only called ballot harvesting one of the "four pillars" of a successful election but also, along with other Democrats, sued to overturn harvesting bans in two states....

Top 4 before yesterday: 1) Georgia 2) Ohio State 3) Alabama 4) Cincinnati After a more than interesting day, MY top 4 today 1) Georgia (No one can touch them) 2) Cincinnati (Yes, they play no one but are undefeated) 3) Michigan 4) Notre Dame How they will probably rank them (they have an Alabama bias. Had Auburn NOT gone into "don't lose mode" and remained in attack mode, they would have won). 1) Georgia 2) Michigan 3) Cincinnati 4) Alabama Next weekend after the conference championships will be interesting. Can Alabama hang with Georgia? Will Georgia copy the Auburn...

QB Bryce Young leads a rally for the ages in regulation to help Alabama snap its Jordan-Hare drought and stay in the CFP hunt. AUBURN, Ala.—For 58-½ shocking minutes in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Alabama’s explosive offense was a dysfunctional mess. The nation’s No. 2 scoring team didn’t find the end zone once within that time, trailing three-touchdown underdog Auburn 10-3. After a deft Tigers punt was downed at the 3-yard line, the chances of the Crimson Tide going 97 yards in 95 seconds to tie the game seemed less likely than Nick Saban taking up stand-up comedy. This looked like another...

Unsavory behavior by fans at this past weekend’s Tennessee-Ole Miss game has sparked discussions around the SEC about how to better ensure the safety of those on the field. On Monday, an important voice in the conference gave his thoughts on the matter and revealed that even he had an unfortunate interaction with patrons earlier this season. Alabama head coach Nick Saban spoke about crowd control during his media session on Monday after Saturday’s game between Ole Miss and Tennessee. The end of the contest at Neyland Stadium was marred by fans throwing bottles, golf balls and other objects onto...

Alabama has only lost three football games over the last three seasons. By any measure or accounting, and no matter what you’ve read or heard this week, that’s an incredible run. But, y’all, we gotta talk. We need to discuss some things because more losses this season could be on the way. No.5 Alabama, after all, is no longer the favorite to win this season’s national championship. Chances are good, in other words, that at least one more loss is coming. It’s just math, but right now we need to talk about our fellow citizens of Alabama becoming statistics. After...

Nice jab at the culture of fairness, worth the watch.

After Ole Miss took down Louisville to open up the season, former Rebels standout A.J. Brown joked the team is ready to take on Alabama. College football is back and everything feels right in the world. For Ole Miss, the Rebels took down Louisville to open its season with an impressive 43-23 victory over the Louisville Cardinals. For former star receiver and current Tennessee Titan A.J. Brown, he loved what he saw. So much, in fact, Brown took to Twitter for a classic 'We want Bama!' post. Lane Kiffin saw this and sent quite the response to Brown for the...

Devonta Smith recently became the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy in nearly 30 years, and those who have seen him without pads on would likely be surprised at the extent to which he is capable of dominating opposing defenses. In that sense, the Alabama star is kind of like Tom Brady. . .

Head football coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide are coming off yet another national title. They have also done the near impossible and upgraded at offensive coordinator with Bill O’Brien. For the past couple of weeks, reports suggested that Alabama would hire the former Houston Texans head coach and general manager to replace Steve Sarkisian as offensive coordinator. That’s now come to fruition. Saban announced on Thursday, via the program’s official website:

Alabama and Notre Dame are scheduled to play a home-and-home series in 2028 and 2029. They will not, however, play in a makeshift nonconference game this season, according to Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne. The idea of Alabama and Notre Dame playing in Week 1 of the 2020 season was floated this past week by a member of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic on the "Thom Abraham Show." The suggestion came after the Pac-12's move to cancel nonconference games this fall in response to growing concern over the COVID-19 pandemic, and among the matchups to be canceled as a result...

The outlook of the 2020 NFL draft and the future of Tua Tagovailoa will hinge on the Alabama quarterback’s pending decision. Tagovailoa tweeted Wednesday night that he will announce his huge decision — stay in school or declare for the draft — on Monday. We haven’t had a looming draft decision quite like this in recent memory. There have been injured players who have had tough calls on staying or going, but not with a quarterback as highly regarded as Tagovailoa. Entering the season, the common narrative was that the Miami Dolphins were “Tanking for Tua.” How wrong that proved...

ORLANDO, Florida — They say elephants never forget. Well, neither does Nick Saban. In No. 9 Alabama's 35-16 Citrus Bowl win over No. 17 Michigan, Saban's Crimson Tide scored a touchdown in the game's final minute. At the time, the Crimson Tide commanded a 12-point lead. Football fans were quick to debate whether or not Saban ran the score up on purpose, digging up an old rivalry between the five-time national champion and Harbaugh.

President Trump attended his third major sporting event in 13 days Saturday, traveling to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to take in the much-anticipated SEC matchup between the hometown Crimson Tide and the LSU Tigers. Trump and first lady Melania Trump, sitting in a box one tier above the field, were introduced to the capacity crowd at Bryant-Denny Stadium just before the game began. The couple received sizable cheers, with a few boos mixed in. The crowd started chanting “USA, USA” shortly after they were introduced....

The defending national champion Clemson Tigers start the season the way they finished in January -- atop the Amway Coaches Poll. The Tigers received 59 of 65 first-place votes in the poll, released Thursday, giving them the top spot in the preseason coaches ranking for the first time in school history. No. 2 Alabama received the other first-place votes. The 1-2 ranking for Clemson and Alabama comes as little surprise heading into the season, as both teams are favorites to make it back to the College Football Playoff, with the potential to meet for the fifth straight time in the...