Alabama column on how Delany's words will be used as motivation against Michigan
Alabama columnist on how Jim Delany's statement about how future playoff teams should be selected (includes a shot at Alabama's team last year) will work as motivation for Alabama against Michigan. Things I had forgotten from last year: Alabama played at Penn State. Although Penn State was outclassed, they may have played Alabama tougher than any other team on their schedule not named LSU, especially on defense (something not mentioned in the column).
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/05/expect_that_team_to_be_ready_f.html
another reasom why Bama will have extra motivation to beat Michigan with your pic.
Getting fired up over what a comish has to say? I doubt that.
Meh.
I don't particularly care for this piece. It's just another one of those articles where the controversy exists only in the author's mind as he tries to create it. Alabama won't be thinking of Jim Delany when they put their pads on.
Until there is actually some quote from a coach or player saying they even recognize this as a slight, this guy is just making stuff up. Manufacturing controversy = more hits on your site, but isn't good reporting.
It's the same company as mlive.com. I can't imagine that anyone would expect journalistic greatness, objectivity, or even competence .
Is it bad that I expect more from MGoBlog than I do from ESPN, or for that matter, any for-profit news source? I find that more and more, the media (please don't embolden them by calling them "journalists") would rather create the news than simply report it.
You have just summarized Kevin Scarbinsky's career. Believe me, he is getting more interest from MGoBlog this morning than he gets from his normal audience in a year except when he says crap like THE BIG TEN COMMISSIONER DISSED BAMA!!!! SAVE OUR HONOR NICK!!!!! The guy is as useless as a dead armadillo.
"Common guys - We're not going to let that Delany dude talk trash about us. We HAVE to beat Michigan to restore the honor of MIKE SLIVE and the whole SEC!!!!!!!"
That'll surely get them roaring out of the tunnel at kickoff......
I'm pretty sure that referring to them as just "common guys" will do more to destroy their motivation than the rest of the speach would do to augment it.
Is that a Secret Peach they eat on Secret NASA (SNASA) missions to the smoon?
"Although Penn State was outclassed, they may have played Alabama tougher than any other team on their schedule not named LSU"
That's because Bama didn't play a single good team other than those two and an overrated Arkansas.
I get it. Their schedule was weaker.
They also put 8 players in the draft and made up about 20% of the first 25 picks.
So, while they didnt play many teams, they beat the Cajun out of LSU (yes they lost the first game, but they also missed about a bajillion field goals).
Those same Tigers smashed Oregon, which was the best team in the Pac-12, which beat the best team in the B10. So.. what are you trying to say here?
I'm saying that it's not a surprise that PSU played them tougher than anyone save LSU. Bama was good. We all know that. They also had a really, really, easy schedule and may have lost another game if it weren't so easy.
I don't follow. PSU "played them tougher?" Based on what? Also, if you can name me a team, and I mean any team, that had the defense to stop Lacy and Richardson and the offense to score points on that D, (I'd even let you mix and match O's and D's and Id still take Bama), Ill concede this to you that "they might have lost more games". You win games with defense, and with running the ball.
They had one of the best defenses in college football in recent memory, and had a Heisman winner running behind a massive O line.
PSU put up 250 total yards of offense against Bama.
Bama had 196 rushing.
If thats not imposing your will, I don't know what is.
I don't know why you're so worked up about this.... the OP said that PSU played them tougher than anyone besides LSU, and I said that's because PSU was the 2nd or 3rd best team on their schedule. That's it.
Im not worked up. But Penn State didnt play them tougher. They got waxed. With 5 minutes to go in the 4th quarter it was 27-3. Take out that last drive, and PSU gained 180 total yards of offense.
I don't like the comparison that "because PSU didn't get absolutely cornholed the B10 will be better than the SEC". That is a leap of faith that I cannot make. Saying that PSU was the 2nd or 3rd best team on their schedule is definetly a stretch.
Michigan is a different animal than PSU entirely. That is entirely the same thing as this bushleague reporter sayng that Delany will fire up Bama
We will beat Bama because we can run the ball and we have the faster player in college football.
"Saying that PSU was the 2nd or 3rd best team on their schedule is definetly a stretch."
Really? Have you seen their schedule?
-Kent State
-Penn State
-North Texas
-Arkansas
-Florida
-Vandy
-Ole Miss
-Tennessee
-LSU
-Mississippi State
-Georgia Southern
-Auburn
Can you list 3 teams better than PSU from that?
Also: "I don't like the comparison that "because PSU didn't get absolutely cornholed the B10 will be better than the SEC".
That's all well and good, because nobody said that, or even implied it.
Is there someone on your end sitting next to you at the computer that you're arguing with?
I don't think quotation marks mean what you think they mean. Using the magic of google site search, YOU are the only person to have used the term "cornholed" (see what I did there?) on this site since October 2011. So clearly, that comment you have in quotation marks is not, in fact, a quote. Well, of anyone other than the voice in your brain, apparently.
If we keep following that chain, maybe we can again figure out that Slippery Rock is the #1 team in the nation...
Given all the other references, I'm surprised the author didn't try to work in a, "And the last time Michigan played an SEC team? Well it didn't work out for them..."
"It's his ( Delany's) job to do what's best for the Big Ten. The SEC tops the list of things that aren't good for the Big Ten. " - from the article
From an appearance standpoint, this is not the case at all - save for Ohio, the SEC continues to make the Big Ten, and most other conferences look like a paragon of compliance and openness with certain noted exceptions.
"The SEC has the facts and the truth, the players and coaches, the recent past and the foreseeable future on its side." - from the article
I can honestly say that I thought the day someone would start out a sentence using "facts", "truth" and "SEC" in a serious manner was a long time coming.
The writer wants to invent bulletin board material, which I am pretty sure a responsible reporter shouldn't go out of their way to do, even in sports, and especially when they are writing with an obvious bias as it just looks silly in the end. Not exactly sure how this gives that team a psychological edge.
Didn't know cheating=truth. I mean, it's basically lying=truth.
But I needed the laugh today.
War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength.
It's clear that this guy is writing from his own contempt of Delany and the Big Ten and his SEC fandom. He's the one who is taking offense to Delany's comments and he's trying to pass off this bulletin board BS to justify this article. It's poorly done.
10 pages of 'Bama commenters armed with truckloads of CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation points!!!!!!
Well, to hit on the points of Bama's weak schedule, IIRC, they played something like 2 top 80 offenses last year, didn't they? Im sure I heard about that during the run up to the borefest that was the national title game.
When Big Ten defenses scored out well, it was because the offenses in the conference were awful, but when Bama scored out well (in metrics), it was because they were dominant?
Eh.....I doubt Hoke cares about what Delany said. I doubt Alabama does too. This article is a joke.
...this exact same thing. No one cares. The "author" is trying to create something. Good luck, buddy, but all the people you named in the article are too dumb to fall for your off-season sensationalism.
I can't really see anyone at Bama really give two shits what Delany has to say...
Absolutely true. They are trying to win championships and don't need Jim Dealny for motivation. On the other hand, I knew before I read it who the author was. Scarbinsky is a moronic local hack who seems to be upset that he hasn't made it to radio yet. Thank God I don't have to read the newspaper for sports news anymore.
"That Team" is Alabama and yes that is motivation... Let's begin our process for this coming up season! #D3fense #Arlington
So 'Bama will use anything and everything as motivation. We should use that to motivate our guys!
team even knows who Delaney is...and I'm fairly sure nobody on the Alabama team could give a crap what a league commish says. Somehow I can't see Saban taping this up on the wall of the locker room.
Controversy - not so much.
Never would have thought they were so sensitive in Alabama...and so easily offended. Then again, probably not much else to write about down there in May.
Man, a lot of MSM journalists suck at their jobs....
Good to see Alabama journalism retains the common sense we've come to expect from that state.
"Delany can talk all he likes. As powerful as he is, he's one man with one voice, and he's no Mike Slive. The SEC commissioner lets his football teams speak for themselves." -from article
Wow. Delany has his faults, but really, the guy in charge of the SEC is your beakon of light.
much attention. We sure dont. Al.com is a joke in general.
Nick Saban will use this as bulletin board material to piss off his team. Delany just messed up. Pissed off Bama teams beat Michigan State 49-7, LSU 21-0, Florida 32-13, and Auburn 42-14. You don't give Nick Saban extra motivation, his teams will eat you alive every time.
Honestly made no sense. Are we talking about a phone interview? Jesus, what next, was this the only guy listening?
Who cares about the SEC West outside of those dumpy states. Delany was probably answering some shit question thrown his way.
I speak for the world who hopes that Michigan put Alabama's dick in the dirt.