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Colin Cowherd Rips Alabama’s 2013 Football Schedule

By Kevin Kelley - May 15, 2013
Nick Saban

Colin Cowherd says Nick Saban "runs" the SEC. (Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports)

ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd ripped Alabama and head coach Nick Saban yesterday over the quality of their 2013 football schedule.

Cowherd was initially defending Notre Dame and their decision to drop future football games against Michigan from their schedules. That decision prompted Michigan head coach Brady Hoke to say over the weekend that Notre Dame was “chickening out” of their rivalry with the Wolverines.

In reviewing Notre Dame’s schedule for 2013 and beyond, Cowherd stated that it was “perfect” and that “there are a lot worse schedules in college football.” He noted tough opponents such as Arizona State, Oklahoma, Stanford, Texas, USC, and the five ACC games. He also added “they don’t have any Towson State’s in there.”

Then he took a look at Alabama’s 2013 schedule, and that’s when the fireworks began.

“Give me Alabama’s schedule next year. Go look at Alabama’s schedule right now. Oh, the great Alabama. Let me see that then. And this is the great SEC, right? It’s unbelievable. Let’s read it right now for you. 2013, alright, here we go, here’s their tough schedule, Alabama. OK, at Texas A&M early, tough as heck. Colorado State, Georgia State, at Kentucky, Tennessee’s a mess, Chattanooga Mocs, Auburn’s a mess…that’s a real toughie. They get LSU at home. They don’t have to play Georgia – they don’t have to play Georgia! Don’t have to play Florida, don’t have to play South Carolina. They’ve got three of the best teams in their division, er…conference and they’re not on their schedule, and they face something called the Chattanooga Mocs?”

“Six of those teams on that schedule are in the toilet. Their toughest game honestly is their second game of the year, Texas A&M. What do you know? They’ve got a bye before it, because Saban pretty much runs the conference. By the way they also face LSU, they get a bye before that. So they get a bye before each of their toughest games. Saban runs that conference. He does. He doesn’t have to play Florida again, he doesn’t have to play Georgia again, he doesn’t have to play South Carolina again. Saban is running that conference.”

“They should have…they could have lost three games last year. Any time Nick needs a bye it just magically appears on the schedule.”

It should be noted that Cowherd did neglect to mention Alabama’s 2013 season opener against Virginia Tech in Atlanta. They also host Ole Miss and Arkansas.

But it really isn’t that tough of a schedule, and as Cowherd mentioned, they get a bye before their two toughest games — at Texas A&M and vs. LSU. They also get a month to prep for Virginia Tech.

Alabama also drew a good schedule from the conference last season. The Tide didn’t face Florida, Georgia, or South Carolina in the regular-season. One of their toughest games, Texas A&M at home, resulted in their only loss of the season.

Looking at both of those schedules, it certainly does appear that Nick Saban “runs the conference” and gets byes at opportune times.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but this two-year stretch of scheduling luck came just after Saban publicly expressed concern about his 2010 schedule. That year, the Crimson Tide faced six opponents that were coming off a bye week.

But SEC schedules have always been cyclical. A couple of easy draws are usually followed by a few tough ones. And in Alabama’s case, their schedule strength has been dragged down recently by Auburn and Tennessee, two historically strong programs that are struggling to recover.

We’ll see what Alabama draws in 2014, as the conference schedule is rumored to be set for release by the end of the month.

View Comments (124)

Comments (124)

I am happy someone is challenging the scheduling practices of the great and powerful SEC. Their OOC is a joke, they have one that looks good on paper (Virginia Tech) who is coming off their worst year in recent memory, and they play them at a neutral site that is of course closer to them than the other team. Then they play the SEC Least, missing the three best, and like Cowherd say, they have byes before their three hardest games. When is the last time Alabama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, or South Carolina played the top three teams in the other division like it seems Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Mississippi St do every year?

LSU did play top teams in their conference. They beat South Carolina and Texas A&M, and lost to Florida and Alabama. The year before they beat Arkansas who was ranked #3, Alabama(Regular Season), Florida, Georgia, even Oregon and West Virginia(outside of conference). I’m just saying though.

This is why we need a 16-team playoff. That way we can see who the true national champions are.

Brock, a 16 team playoff means 4 extra games for these student athletes. Not only is it not plausible, but would be tremendously unfair for the kids.

Look, here is where everyone misses the point. Do you know why Alabama plays an “easy” schedule? They don’t have to play against themselves. Simple as that. If we were talking about Arkansas, we would say “dang, tough schedule: Bama, LSU, and TAMU in the SEC West, etc… tough schedule!

Oh and btw, just like last year, if Bama is able to get through the “easy” SEC schedule, they will play either UGA, USCe, or UF in Atlanta for the SEC Championship. So Colin is certainly exaggerating a bunch. You can spin just about anything just about however you want to. That’s how he gets people to listen to him; piss people off so they will call in and complain.

I re-read my post and I feel like my second paragraph wasn’t as clear as it needs to be. What I am trying to say is, when you play everyone in your division and you are the best team in that division, then you are obviously going to have an easier schedule than everyone else in your division.

Know what I am saying?

Listen up all of you non-Alabama Fans, I don’t know what teams you cheer on but there is no conference like the SEC right now. The SEC is a powerhouse conference rightnow, and you all know it. Are you kidding me, Oregon or Kstate in the BCS championship game, thats weak, we all saw what Auburn did to Oregon, as well as what Baylor did to Kstate, as well as Stanford vs Oregon last year, and you bums think they could beat the tide, don’t think so. All you guys need to go look up Alabama football history, its not just in the past ten years, we been whipping tail since the early 1900’s, and you want to know something else, we played Florida in all SEC championships except for last year against UGA. In the SEC we have a West and East, sometimes one side is weaker then the other, that does not mean their schedule is weak. Every game in the SEC is a fight to the finish, its all on how you play the 60 minutes. Trust me, I would love a rematch against South Carolina, they straight up beat us in 2010. Now with all that said, just so you know, Alabama has set the bar for winning!!!!! We have evolved as a team, (a young team that won a National Championship) not a bunch of seniors, but a mixture of talent that other teams wish they could get, a young team especially on defense, and what, we still won that game, so all you other fans of programs that wana think there team is the best, I dare you to schedule an out of confgerence game with the TIDE. Atleast VT had the balls to do it and they played BAMA in ’09, VT was ranked preseason at #7 and Bama at #5. This whole nonsense about who;s got the easiest or hardest schedule is weak, to all you non-tide fans, GET YOUR GAME UP AND QUIT WHINNING!!!!!!! SEE YOU AT THE START OF ANOTHER ALABAMA CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON!!!! RTR!!!!!!!

All you have to do is beat them which few have and then they are fellow SEC. AL will play Ga or SC or FL in SEC championship. Quit whining. Just bring a team that is competitive. All that hype on ND did no good on the field. Facts are facts and 7 straight SEC national titles going for #8. When someone can match that, lets talk about schedule then.

LSU plays Florida every year, they played South Carolina last year and Georgia this year and lets not forget, not to mention every team in SEC West. LSU also plays almost every year, ranked yes ranked out of conference teams. So that is not true. In 2011 they had the hardest schedule bar none! Opened with Oregon, West Virginia on the road and ended playing 7, yes 7 ranked teams that year, going 13-0 and that includes beating Georgia in SEC title game. So leave your biased opinion against Bama.

“The great and powerful SEC” a sarcastic comment that should be taken literally. 7 championships in a row. Check the margin of victory in those games. I like to use this example when the discussion of “weak” schedules arises. In 2010 I would assume oregon’s avg ppg was around 50 or higher. They play the statistically worst defense in the SEC in Auburn and are held to a mere 19 points. Not to mention the beat downs that have taken place over the past 7 years with SEC teams dominating the BCS championship game. The SEC is a step above every conference. It’s simply an undeniable fact

Strength of schedule is a little overrated. You never know how good a team will be season to season, and some teams match up better than others. I mean its not Saban’s fault that Auburn is crap. That being said, the bye weeks before each of their tough games is BS

My friends and I have been saying this for years. Don’t get me wrong, Alabama and the top teams of the SEC are very good. But they really never have to prove too much in the regular season and they can lose a game or two and still be in the title game. Yes, they win their bowl game but how lucky did Bama get last year playing ND instead of Oregon or even Kansas State. ND won about 6 games by luck last season. SEC is very good but not great and the fact Bama does not even play UF, South Carolina and Georgia this season is just a joke!

What. The SEC teams don’t have to prove too much in the regular season. Give me a break. They play all the SEC teams in their division and then have to beat the best SEC team in the opposite division. Every SEC game is a tough game. Lets not forget who beat Kansas State to kick them out of the top spot that they held.

Bull(i) UR a stupid stupid kid. Before BAMA ripped Texas a couple of years ago they and the Big/little12 were the talk of the football Uverse. Clemson, VT, Michigan were supposed to be equally great. Beat them and suddenly they weren’t that great. U were just hoping they could beat BAMA. SORRY. Last year ND (No Damn…way) were back at the top of the football world until BAMA destroyed them. For next years championship we’ll play Oregon, Ohio State, Stanford and Michigan on back 2 back weeks before we are declared NC again. Surely u would have a problem as soon as we busted them up. It takes a SEC team to beat a SEC team. Get used to it.

Alabama didn’t rip Texas, it was a competitive game, and Texas was playing a terrible QB who had taken like 3 snaps in college football. Considering how it played out I would have predicted a Texas win had McCoy stayed in. But you can’t predict ifs, so lets just leave it to the fact that Alabama’s performance against a foot ball team playing at such a deficit was disappointing and a bit revealing.

Hey Bill, agree with your post that ND should not have gone 12-0. Stanford beat them, but was robbed. As for Alabama, they beat a weak VaTech team this year. They played Colorado ST, Georgia St and Chattanooga. Rumor has it they are trying to fill out their 2014 schedule with St Mary’s College for Women. The problem with all these discussions about scheduling is that no single SEC team plays more than one good OOC game except Florida. Alabama has West Virginia, Florida Atlantic, and Western Carolina on their schedule for 2014. Florida State on the other hand plays Florida, Ok State, and Notre Dame. Now the SEC and BAMA homers will say that the Mighty Hilltoppers from Western Kentucky or the Arkansas State Red Wolves are legitimate games, but I beg to differ. The SEC is the most hyped thing in football, and if they are so tough, why do they schedule all these patsies for their OOC. Based on the patsy OOC schedule, all these SEC teams should start at 4-0.

Like someone said earlier, Colin is being Colin. He says whatever to piss people off. For starters I only care what football intelligent people say. If he has proof then by all means give it, otherwise make factual comments, or he is nothing other than poor journalist taking shots at someone famous in order to bring them down. If Colin was so smart then why does he think SC, FL, and Georgia are so good this year? As it stands they are all behind Missouri. Now for Auburn, he said they would be weak, shows what he knows! I’m sure he was one of the many hopefuls who said that Notre Dame would beat Alabama…there was a beating all right! The schedule may not be as strong as he would deem acceptable, but then once i a while that happens. Alabama does not hide as they usually play a respectable team right off the bat as teams like Ohio State and Oregon play the likes of Buffalo. I do not see any bashing on these two schools. Bottom line Colin…Alabama will play anyone and “beat the Hell out of them”.

The SEC is great my man. And Bama would do work on KSU and Oregon. Those teams don’t play defense to save their lives.

People must forget what happens every time another conference plays the SEC in a game that matters.

They may have what other conferences call easy schedules, but what happens when they go and play the great notre dame??? They kick ass. An easy schedule in the sec is still harder than what other conferences play, any day of the week. So quit your b****in!! Go DAWGS!! SEC for life!!

Look, I am not going to defend Alabama, but stop pretending that the Pac12 or the Big Ten are as tough… The NFL draft proved that more good players come from the SEC than any other conference. Every team in the SEC has NFL calibur players. So, playing Auburn or Tennessee may look easy bu they have good players. And when the SEC goes out of conference and plays your team, more often than not they win. So until you near them, shut up.

Exactly good post there are only a handful of schools that don’t schedule FCS schools.

Sure SEC players get drafted but the best NFL players are from the other conferences.
Jerry Rice-Miss Valley State
Jim Brown-Syracuse
Lawrence Taylor-North Carolina
Joe Montana-Notre Dame
Walter Payton-Jackson State
Barry Sanders-Oklahoma State

# of HOFers by college(only 1 SEC in the top 10)
Southern California (11)
Notre Dame (10)
Ohio State (9)
Michigan (8)
Pittsburgh (8)
Alabama (7)
Syracuse (7)
Illinois (6)
Miami – Florida (6)
Minnesota (6)

Come on Ed. Really? To deny that the SEC produces better talent is a little sills, besides Emmitt was better than Barry Sanders… No Jackson may have been the best all-around athlete ever, not to mention Namath, Stabler, Manning (both)… We could play that game forever

Alabama’s schedule isn’t weak. What’s wrong with playing nontraditional rivalries with Colorado State and Georgia State. Starting off with Virginia Tech and Texas A&M isn’t a slouch move. I will say that it helps Alabama to have 7 home games!!!!

“nontraditional rivalries with Colorado State and Georgia State.” Don’t get me started. Those games will be a combined 120-7 blowouts. Hardly “nontraditional rivalries”

Remember last year when they said Notre Lame had the toughest schedule? What happened? Oh yeah, the season started. Also regardless of the schedule look how Bama plays in the post season, how easily they forget that they walked over the Irish. If they met in the regular season it would be the same. The SEC may have weak schedules, but they still manage to walk over the other “big boys”

If Ga. had beat Bama in the Sec. Championship game they still would have beat the brakes off Notre Shame same results.

Ok one, who cares what Colin Coward thinks. It’s easy to rip strangers through a radio mic. Second, you know what? The SEC deserves a weak out of conference since they play real games each week during the season, the BIG 10, 12, and Pac 12 play the equivalent to OOC games every week. I like how the Ole Miss’s, Arkansas’s, Auburn’s and Tennessee’s are just given as a win… those are good teams that will beat half of the Big 10, 12, ACC, and Pac 12… you know why there record doesn’t look great… because they play in the SEC. Yes, Alabama got by with missing, UGA and UF, but its still 10x tougher than the joke of a schedule Notre Dame had last year… and they should’ve lost 3 of those games!

Oh spare me the whole “the bottom of the sec is really good too”. No they’re not. Tennessee is garbage, Oregon is gonna rip them two new assholes this season. Just like they did in Knoxville. Miss st was a fraud last year, and got killed by Northwestern (who was in the HORRIBLE Big 10). Auburn barely escaped Louisiana Monroe, Arkansas got beat by Louisiana Monroe.
And we could do the same with the top too. Florida got worked by LOUISVILLE, Clemson beat LSU. South Carolina narrowly escaped Michigan (who was part of the HORRIBLE Big 10).
Yes the SEC has won 7 straight, the best team from the SEC has been better than anyone else. But let’s not act like the middle and lower teams in the SEC are worth a shit. Because they’re not.

not to mention the awful kentucky wildcats who lost to a team in the SUN BELT. and that their only win was from a team in DII. Please

Folks, the BAD teams in the SEC would go to bowl games 75% of the time if they were in any other conference. The reason why the SEC doesn’t play all over the country outside of bowl season is because the regular season is tougher than any other confernce. There were a minimum of 6 SEC schools that would have beaten ND last year. Don’t start talking about L’Ville beating Florida or Clemson beating LSU. If the SEC teams aren’t playing in the National Championship game then the players typically don’t care and aren’t going to risk millions of dollars in the NFL by getting hurt in a meaningless game. Someone tell me how many years in a row has the SEC had the most players drafted.

Florida State led college football with 11 players drafted last year. Your comment about a Florida or LSU team not caring about a “meaningless game” sounds like pure southern bull shit. The SEC is great at beating Div 1-AA teams since they schedule so many. When is the last time a SEC team had more than one semi-difficult OOC game. The SEC is good, but the south I believe in isnt scared to set up an occassional tough game. Florida State has always taken on tough OOC games. WV screwed them the last two years, but next year they play OK State, Florida, and Notre Dame. A & M will play SMpew, ULM, Lamar, and rumor has it Southlake HS, who will actually be their toughest OOC game. Mighty Bama plays WV, Florida Atlantic, Western Carolina, and an unnamed patsy.

LSU has had some of the toughest schedules in 2011, 2012, and even in 2013
2011
Oregon, Miss. State, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas,
2012
South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Texas A&M
2013
TCU, Florida, Georgia, Texas A&M, Alabama

The irony here is that Colin’s alma mater? Eastern Washington (another “lousy” FCS school). So, in his words, what the crap are they?…………………….But he’s just another fake radio host (much like most of the ESPN hosts) that’s just all shock value caricature. Don’t worry about it.

Having been an avid reader of FB Schedules for years, I’m glad to see them branching out and crafting non-schedule related football articles. FB Schedules is already an awesome site and who knows how far it can go with the addition of editorial pieces.

That said, I would rather have heard what Kevin Kelley thinks of Alabama’s schedule without bringing Cowherd into the mix. Having listened to that knucklehead enough over the years, I really don’t care what he thinks. But I do care what Kelley thinks because he’s a writer I’m not familiar with yet. I’d rather hear his original point of view than a rehash of what Cowherd said. Besides, we all know what Colin would have said if he’d had Saban on the show today: “Coach. I couldn’t help but notice your non-conference schedule is statistically ranked as one of the more softer schedules in the country. What challenges do you think this presents in your quest to win another title?”

He would have made his point in the most softball-question asking manner possible.

With all this said, I’m looking forward to reading more of Kelley’s work.

Thanks Andy. I’m not an experienced “writer” per se. Definitely lean towards the press releases and “this is what the other guy thinks” etc.

Also, trying not to offer up too much personal opinion because I obviously have my favorite teams and don’t want to put off any fans of the site.

The SEC schedule is cyclical. In the next few years, Alabama’s schedule will get tougher. As far as this year’s, if Tennessee, Auburn, and Arkansas are much improved, that will change the perceptions. Virginia Tech, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Miss State, and LSU all participated in bowls last year. Colorado State game is because McElwain, Bama’s former OC, is head coach there. Georgia State and Chattanooga are your typical cupcakes. Saban is pushing SEC to go to 9 conference games, which would make for tougher schedule for everyone each year.

Yea, Bama cant help it that the Vols and Auburn suck right now. That’s like saying Ohio St. isn’t as good because Michigan hasn’t been very good lately. They still play the traditional rivalries every year folks.

Yes, Bama plays weak OOC competition. Since 2008, the Tide has played at least one team each year from the vaunted ACC and Big 10 (Penn State twice, Clemson, Michigan, Duke and Va. Tech). Since, the closest any of those patsies came to beating Bama was 10 points, Cowherd is right Bama does plays a weak OOC schedule. I will not even get into how it has pounded teams from the Big 12, Big 10, and SEC, plus Notre Dame, in bowls since the 2009 season.

Ever since they got their a** whooped by a Utah team that received comments like, “They don’t stand a chance,” “Alabama will win by 40,” “They can’t win,” here are the teams ‘Bama has played
2009: VT (34-24), Florida Int (40-14), North Texas (53-7), Chattanooga (45-0), Texas (37-21)*
2010: San Jose State (48-3), Penn State (24-3), Duke (62-13), Georgia State (63-7), Michigan State (49-7)*
2011: Kent State (48-7), Penn State (27-11), North Texas (41-0), Georgia Southern (45-21)
2012: Michigan (41-14), Western Kentucky (35-0), Florida Atlantic (40-7), Western Carolina (49-0), Notre Dame (42-14)*
So, here are the stats for these years (excluding bowl games)
2009: outscored opponents 172-45
2010: outscored opponents: 197-26
2011: outscored opponents: 161-39
2012: outscored opponents: 165-21
total records for non-conference opponents
2009: 21-27 (44%)
2010: 17-32 (35%)
2011: 26-21 (54%) (only because Georgia Southern had a good team)
2012: 19-30 (39%)
2013 (using stats from last year): 18-29 (38%)
If you are playing opponents that are below 50%, you have a bad schedule. You have a weak schedule, which is what Alabama’s non-conference is this year. Hope I loaded you with the truth

I am not arguing that Bama has a weak or strong OOC schedule my point is two-fold. 1. Whether it has been weak or strong OOC conference opponents, Bama has beat the heck out of them. This fact can’t be argued. 2. Bama is being slammed for weak schedules, but they have consistently scheduled for the past five years OOC games with BCS AQ conferences. They have destroyed these teams (Michigan, Penn State (twice), Va. Tech, Clemson and Duke); therefore meaning that these “stronger” teams are actually part of the problem for Alabama’s perception because they are no better than the non-AQ and FCS teams Bama has played. In other words, the Big 10 and the ACC suck. BTW: By no means am I a Bama fan.

That’s right Alabama should be more like THE Ohio State Buckeyes who open with that powerhouse Buffalo Bulls from the MAC who had a dominating 4-8 season last year. Gimme a break. There are very few teams that do not play at least one cupcake every season. You can give me all the stats you want but when it comes down to it, Alabama beat UGA and they walked over ND like it was a scrimmage. Had UGA won the results would’ve been the same! Nick Saban is the only one in the SEC calling for a 9-game conference schedule. Everyone else voted against so just who is running the SEC again??? As far as Alabama’s bye weeks before A&M and LSU. Seems to me LSU always has a bye week before they play Alabama and since you’re crying about Alabama’s bye weeks, were you crying when in 2010, six teams had a bye before they played Alabama or are you just hating?

I remember when Cowherd laughed at Alabama when they was trying to hire Nick Saban. Cowherd, said that it would never happen. Alabama looks pretty good with Nick Saban as the Head Man, dosen’t he Mr. Cowherd! Lol

I remember a few years ago when Florida was crowned “national champions” even after losing to a garbage Mississippi team with several losses. The media acted like that loss to Mississippi never even happened.

Oh, the media remembered that game, it was excused away, “Tough SEC game”, “Ole Miss rose to the occasion”, etc. It is the same thing whenever a top SEC team loses a conference game to a mediocre or poor team. Yet when it happens in another conference it is death to their high ranking, even if the team they lost to is good the losing team will drop, drop just below the next SEC team or 2 in the rankings; however, this year Stanford & Oregon did manage to keep highly ranked after loses. That might have been more because of other teams losing though.

Bama’s OOC cupcake schedule is going to save them again this year, the rankings will probably get them into a BCS game even though they aren’t playing in the SEC title game. Again.

Do you think Cowherd will blast Ohio States’ OOC schedule? Buffalo, SDSU, Cal and Florida A&M … That slate is weaker than Bama’s.

Everything a nationally syndicated radio host does is based on riling the most people up in order to boost the ratings. Since Ohio State has one of the largest, most passionate, and thin-skinned fan bases in the world, he probably will.

What people don’t realize is that teams like Alabama would love to play more FBS teams from BCS and non-bcs conferences, but those teams turn them down just as much, whether it’s a 1 game deal or home and home. I know for a fact that many teams don’t want to play a game they feel they have no chance of winning and definitely don’t want an early season loss.. As far as the bye weeks before big games, everybody does that. LSU has a week off before bama and other schools do the same. Colin has the benefit of hiding behind his microphone and not being accountable for everything he says.. He can take the calls or feedback he wants and has all his assistants to filter out any complaints from knowledgable fans. He does most of this to get a rise out of everyone and to collect a fat paycheck from the ESPN bully’s.

Agreed. Let’s just be real and call it like it is. The big 10 used to be very good. They have not been lately. Don’t point fingers at the SEC or any other conference – improve your own.

That same Ole Miss team Florida lost to clown stomped BIG12 co champ Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl

Can’t look at just OOC, but the entire schedule. It is not the toughest schedule I’ve seen Alabama play, but it is by no means very easy.

I don’t recall UTC or GSU ever being on Alabama’s schedule. That will be a really big boost for both of those programs no matter the score and I’m happy to see it. Seriously, from the other teams perspective, who would want to schedule AL that has national title interests?

There is no such thing as an easy schedule in the SEC where any conference opponent is a potential upset. Perhaps asking why AL has to compete with Iowa State for BCS rankings would be a more pertinent discussion but that’s a tired old one. The state of Alabama owns the last 4 national championships and the tide shows no signs of slowing down. Get your criticism in early because there won’t be much to whine about once the season starts.

Alabama scheduled Georgia St for Georgia St’s first year of football, at the FCS level. Then scheduled them again this year for GSU’s first year at the FBS level. Pretty weak scheduling for the defending champs let alone any top tier program.
They basically scheduled 2 FCS programs this year; GSU lost to 3 FCS teams this year, one of which was UTC.

Haters gonna hate. Bama doesn’t play GA, or SC or FL. Well in 2009 they played SC and won, They blister Florida’s ass in the SEC championship and made Tebow cry, then went on to win the BCS title. In 2011 they had FL again on the schedule and blister them again and went on too skunk an undefeated LSU team in the BCS championship. In 2012 We opened with the mighty Wolverines and clowned stopped them. Then stomped an undefeated whoopdy do ND. Also ask any GA fans what they thought about the last “blackout” they had. We went in there and blacked them out and they haven’t had another “blackout” since. Quit your whining. Until these other so called great conferences step up knock the SEC down, you don’t have a leg to stand on.

SEC schedule they do not control and can’t rip them on that. You would think that the SEC would schedule at least one of the three between Florida, Georgia, or South Carolina. Tennessee is a game they play every year despite being in different divisions and that won’t change. The two FCS schools on their non conference schedule, that I have a problem with.

Georgia State is not FCS, they are a Sun Belt team. There are only two teams in the FBS that scheduled two FCS teams this season, South Carolina (South Carolina St and The Citadel) and Georgia Tech (Elon and Alabama A&M). However, Clemson has Georgia and S Carolina out of conference, and GA Tech plays at BYU and Georgia out of conference. It evens out.

BAMA AND UGA GET AWAY W THIS CRAP IT SEEMS LIKE EVEYR YR-BAMA IS ALSO THE KINGS OF NCAA RULE BREAKING AND CHEATING .sellout saban is truly the sec devil and the reason why he gets away w it for now is because he wins titles-but he and alabamma will one day pay the sec and ncaa piper.buck fama!around the bowl and down the toilet bowl………flush the crimson cheating turds

You make cheating claims back them up with some facts. Otherwise your just another pathetic loser.

A

i dislike collin cowherd hes got something to say about everybody all negative

For the record, the “toughest conference” SEC was 0-5, yes 0-5 against the Big East last year. The Big. East.

For the record, you are wrong. Ole Miss pounded the mighty Pitt Panthers in a bowl game. Yes, Ole Miss!.

This schedule isnt great, but it also isnt horrible.

As already stated, the SEC schedule used to rotates on a 2 year basis.

in 2011 and 2010 Alabama played Florida. in 2010 and 2009 Alabama played South Carolina. and in 2008 and 2007 Alabama played Georgia.

If Mizzou and AM had not entire the league, Alabama would have played Georgia in 2012 and 2013.

Georgia has skipped out on playing Alabama and LSU the last 2 seasons as well.

Every year we hear this, then the teams with the “tougher” come calling on NCG day and they lose! So what that all about?

And if florida and GA are so good we will see one of them in the SEC championship too!

If they made all the great teams play each other in the regular season there would be no point In a championship game.

Yeah, and that would be AWESOME. The only reason why we don’t do it that way is because it would be too many games. So instead it’s better to have the good teams within each conference play each other, and whoever seems to emerge as the strongest-looking teams play each other in the championship game. This keeps things exciting during the regular season, since you get to see good football that also influences who might get to go to the big dance. So when a team avoids the three best teams in the other half of the conference and has byes before its two real tough matchups, it is really lame.

cowherds 100% correct. bama has not earned the last 2 titles and this seasons schedule is sad. if your fbs is ranked OUTSIDE the top 50 to 60 then you dont deserve to contend 4 any title. there 2013 schedule makes the entire SEC look weak. as the rest of the SEC beats up on one another and plays better ooc oppents the turds in t-town will take care of the mocs, colorado state, & dont 4get about the fighting panthers from georgia state.

This is a ridiculous critique of Alabama. Practically every BCS has this kind of schedule. Look at Ohio State: Buffalo, SD State, Cal and FAMU. No Nebraska, no Mich St.
Where is the outrage???

asau get an elephant by the tail they always point the trunk at somebody else dont they. your right about ohio st, there sos is worse than bamas but that aint sayn much. when bama plays equal opponents in the SEC they lose OR they barely win. thats great and all but after they play those close games then they get 5 to 6 games of weak teams. all the rest of us beat the snot out of each other and lose players to injury. last season yall played only 2 equal teams out of 10 or 11 from the SEC… yall won 1 and lost the other. sorry but bama earned nothing. for 2yrs in a row.

You think there are 11 equal teams in the SEC? There are 6 top teams in the SEC: Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Bama is one of those teams and played 3 of those teams, and went 2-1. Fact is none of the top 6 teams in the SEC went undefeated against the others. Also it doesn’t hold much weight to simultaneously say that they barely beat an equal opponent; if your opponent is equal to you then it should be a really close game.

what an idoit, if u want to get the snot beat out of u play an sec schecdule by far the best offensive and defensive lines in the country and we beat the teams we play in the nat title games about as bad as these weak teams u say we play in the regular season

We might have a some what easy schedule but we show up in big games. Roll Tide 4life!!

Its funny how ppl rip the SEC, especially Bama for their weak schedule yet Saban was the only coach to vote for playing 9 conference games instead of 6, so he’s actually trying to get the schedule tougher not just for him but for all teams. As for cowherd he was trashing ND all season yet takes up for them when Bama’s schedule was brought up. It’s all about ruffling fan’s feathers for his ratings.

Alabama didnt “earn” their last 2 titles?? Must have seen a different scoreboard than I did.

hmm lets see bama 21 lsu 0 , bama 42 notre dum 14, plus bama stopped trying to score half way tru the 3rd qrt against n d who’s ur looser team numb nuts

I have heard so much crap about the Alabama schedule it’s the same as everyone else except they can play themselves..so enough already..shut the hell up

SEC needs to play a 9 nine game sec schedule. If critics say Notre Dame was the best team in the country on defense. They were awful. I know people say about Teo hoax, but if Notre Dame played an SEC they would get creamed. Alabama kicked Notre Dame’s ass in the national championship. I know sports reporters say Notre Dame was the best team to play Alabama, but it wasn’t so. Notre Dame plays Big 10 schools. Big 10 has weak teams, the only powerhouses in that conference are Ohio State and Michigan. I sick of seeing a eight game SEC schedule and two bye weeks. We need a nine game SEC schedule. People would say oh that would take away georgia tech- georgia, south carolina-clemson, and FSU-Florida rivalries. That doesn’t matter anymore because with the addition of A&M and Missouri, it sucks, I would left their fucking asses in the Big 12.

Sounds like the road to 16 is looking good. When you win 3 out 4 national championships in 4 years you get what you want. And by the way we beat UGA last year for those who dont remember/

Everybody wants to down bama, but the truth is they just keep beating the crap out of everybody. Get over it, An colin never played football so how is he an expert. Sorry collin but southern cal just is not to good lol

Several years ago Alabama played LSU for the NCC when in fact Alabama should have never
played in the game in the first place. Oklahoma St. played and beat 8, yes 8 top 25 teams that
year and got snubbed for a Bama team with nowhere near a comparable resume. The mighty SEC prevails again. Go figure.

@realist1 …… Oklahoma State would have been ran off the field by either of those 2 teams. When you lose to Iowa State, you don’t even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as “national championship”

Phil Steele uses the same methods as the NCAA to determine preseason strength of schedule .
Results for the 2013 season are interesting to say the least. Louisville has been bashed to no end about their weak schedule which by the way they did everything in their power to bolster by trying to add Alabama, Texas Tech, Wisconsin etc to no avail. While their schedule is ranked at #89, Here is a list of teams that no-one seems to want to address. Alabama #104, Ohio st. #102,
Virginia Tech#99, Miami#93,Wisconsin#91,Nebraska#97,Oregon#112. If any of these teams runs the table they will no doubt be a lock for the NCG while Louisville ,If they Ran the table
the public outcry would surely keep them out of any discussion to play for the NCG. Until there
is a playoff there never has been and never will be a true champion. This is truly a joke and a massive ego trip for all these conferences and fan bases who think they are just plain better
than anyone else just because of the name on their jerseys. Tradition is just a glorified word
for the past.

I believe Colin Cowherd was the announcer that announced Nick Saban would not leave South Beach in Miami to go to Alabama, where a lady gets her toes done by a ‘Hound Dog licking your toes”. Well, 3 BCS Championships later.. Meat Loaf use to sing about ” Two outta three ain’t bad” Nick has changed that into ” Three out of Four is better”.. working on “Four outta of Five!!!

Roll Tide!!

Cowherd. He is a tool for a better choice of words. He is all butt hurt over Alabama. He is the same idiot that had USC winning the NC in 2012. Yep.

Colin just tries to stir things up hoping to
create controversy which may convert to higher ratings for his show. That’s it in a nutshell. Can’t blame him for trying to make more money for he and his family. He’s a tool, playing the game.

I think in real life, he’s probably just jealous he’ll never make what Nick does in his sleep.

Aloha, Pete

Just wish all u non sec teams play just 3 or 4 teams in sec regular sched like Bama,Florida ,Lsu,Georgia then we all will see.

Alabama, Georgia and Florida only look good because they know how to schedule. Lots of patsies in the OOC, play your tough games at home, then avoid the tough games in the other division.

If they had real balls they would play a round robin. But that won’t happen, they will whine too much about how great they already are and how its not necessary. what a joke.

Colin ur an idiot. Im not even sure if i know who you are. I guess you think ohio state has a tough schedule. Buffalo, san diego st. And california to start off with, please.

The SEC was 0-4 vs. the Big East last year in the regular season.
0-4. That alone tells you how overrated the entire conference is.

Sorry colin i thought you were the biggest idiot around and then MARCO suddenly made a comment.

I have a good question. Why is it that the Sec is called the best conference, but right now two
big 12 schools have not only competed, but won against these great teams?

Because being a member of the SEC gave the players and coaching staff the new found confidence and self esteem they were longing for. Mind over matter.

It’s very simple. Colin is a pretty good guy trying to be a little controversial to improve his ratings and thus keep his job and hopefully make more money. Most of the schedules are made years before they come out. Things can change and often do. Nick makes up the SEC schedule the way he wants it to be. Bama is still the best team in the SEC this year and unless a, or some injuries happen, they will win the SEC championship once again. Florida State is an even match and may even be better than the”Tide”, but with six weeks to prepare and having the experience of being in the national championship three of the last four years, Bama has a huge advantage in being ready for this stage of the season.

Next year, they’ll have a chance to have their own awesome freshman QB and will once again battle for SEC supremacy. Winning four in a row would be like the old Celtics or John Wooden’s accomplishments at UCLA.

Aloha and mahalo, Pete (huge supporter of the 0-9 Rainbow Warriors).

Sounds like whoever bama plays for championship , if we make it there, shouldnt have any problem snatching the trophy away.GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!!

It is rather humorous to go back over these other posts from SEC homers defending Bama’s schedule.
They played the bottom 3 teams in the SEC East: Florida (4-8) only 1 OOC win against Toledo which is 5th in the MAC & lost to a FCS team. Kentucky (2-10), only wins against an 0-12 Miami (OH) and a FCS team, also lost to W Kentucky which finished in the middle of the Sunbelt. Tennessee (5-7).
Got 3 easy division games in Ole Miss, Miss St & Arkansas (those teams combined won only 1 of 3 OOC games against AQ conference teams: Miss beat Texas. Miss St lost to Okie St, Arkansas lost to Rutgers.
Texas A&M turned out to be average, only 2 wins against FBS teams with winning records: Ole Miss and Rice…

Colorado St ended up being 7th best in the MWC..
V Tech ended up 4th or 5th best in the ACC.

Pretty sad that schedule is most likely going to get them a BCS game.

That’s because Nick made the schedule.

I’m pretty sure Bama is better than Ohio State. Michigan State may be also.

Florida State is the best.

Collin’s full of it. He’s just looking for ratings. Who care’a about 2013?

The SEC has 4 of the top 5 teams in all the polls !Miss State 2Fla State 3 Ole Miss 4 Auburn 5 Alabama. nuff said!

It’s funny to look back on the words of a bloviating nincompoop now that the season is winding down.