1999 Texas

First off, I'm going to be on The Sporting News radio network Saturday morning, talking about Georgia at Alabama, and the book. Hope you enjoy.

Second, I have Texas on my mind today, and not because I was recently asked to do a Texas book (long story I'll tell later, but the bottom line is I'm not doing it), but regarding something I posted on my blog with the Tuscaloosa News.

Every week, ESPN,com's Ivan Maisel and Mark Schlabach make bowl projections, and they're both excellent at what they do. What was interesting to me was that both had Alabama playing Texas in the Cotton Bowl (which from a personal standpoint would be great because the Cotton Bowl people really know how to put on an event), although they arrived at that through very different ways.

Right now, Maisel believes the national championship will be Southern California vs. Oklahoma, with two other SEC teams in the BCS, LSU vs. West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl, and Boston College vs. Florida in the Orange Bowl. I think the only way that happens is if LSU split and Florida split between their game Oct. 6 and then the SEC Championship game. Maisel then thinks South Carolina will be the top-rated SEC team remaining and play Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl.

Schlabach, meanwhile, has LSU against Southern California in the title game, with Florida vs. Rutgers in the Sugar Bowl. However, for the Capital One Bowl he has Georgia vs. Wisconsin, which means he probably believes Alabama will lose this weekend. Interestingly, Maisel has Georgia in the Chick-fil-A Bowl against Virginia Tech, while Schlabach has Georgia Tech vs. South Carolina.

Both have Kentucky in the Outback Bowl, Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl, and have either Auburn or Arkansas in the Music City of Independence Bowls, giving the conference nine bowl teams. Neither believe Mississippi State or Vanderbilt will play in a bowl. The Bulldogs have two wins, with games remaining against Gardner Webb, UAB and Ole Miss. Even if they win all three, they'll need another upset against South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama or Arkansas to get the minimum six victories. The Commodores are also 2-1, with Eastern Michigan, Miami (Ohio) and Wake Forest as their non-conference foes. The SEC opponents at Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Just some mental food for thought. Anyway, the photo is of Major Applewhite (Alabama's current offensive coordinator), against Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game. The No. 3 Cornhuskers won, 22-6, but couldn’t move up in the polls. Courtesy of the Big 12 Conference.