The CLICHE Bowl

NOT gonna post all of the crazy football clichés that you will hear, read, and see ad nauseum about rivalry games-- specifically THIS one.

BAMA-auburn 2017 Iron Bowl

If THE TIDE gets some injured defenders back, we should be okay. If the defense is as bad as it was against Mississippi State, Kerryon Johnson will embarrass us on national television.
The safe bet is that Coach Saban spent a LOT of time with Jeremy Pruitt and the defensive unit this Thanksgiving Holiday week.

BRENTOONS IRON BOWL PICK:

ALABAMA 35 AUBURN 21

GET UP! It's GAMEDAY!

FINALLY! It's here!
BAMA will face off with auburn in the IRON BOWL today at 2:30.
Look for it to be a tight game early on, but THE TIDE will overpower the tigers/plainsmen/war-eagles or whatever and pull away late.

GAMEDAY PREDICTION:

ALABAMA 35
auburn          21

IRON BOWL 2014

No more "Got a second...?".
That ship has sailed.
An entire year has passed, and 'the Big One' is upon us again. It's time for The IRON BOWL, the annual gridiron tilt between The UNIVERSITY of ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE and those other guys from across the state, the Auburn Tigers. ALABAMA has had a year to relive that last-second miracle, and you can bet they won't let anything like THAT happen again. As usual, here is my "GameDay Comic" and prediction of the outcome.

THE TIDE will be ready, and won't let any trick plays, bad bounces, or lucky breaks keep them from playing in the SEC Championship Game and the first-ever COLLEGE FOOTBALL DIVISION-1 PLAYOFF.

Prediction:

ALABAMA 35 Auburn 14

SEC Network Debuts

Well, they've talked about it for years.

 Today's the 'big day', the day that ESPN has hyped since its conception. The money machine that is The Southeastern Conference now has its own cable network, like the Big10 and the PAC10 before it.

 Modus Operandi: Get SEC fans used to watching, then move it to another cable channel package and charge more. Ho-hum. Channel 727 on Comcast Digital in Mobile.
ROLL TIDE ANYWAY!

Freak Ending For Epic Iron Bowl

One second.
After a crazy, back-and-forth game frought with dropped passes, phantom penalties and missed kicks, The Iron Bowl-- the annual game between THE University of ALABAMA and auburn university --ended on the craziest of head-shaking, awe-inspiring plays.
 The only explanation is that those devil-worshipping, voodoo-wielding tigers/plainsmen/war-eagles or whatever hell-spawn must have utilized witchcraft or some type of black magic. I'll have to check the NCAA rulebook to see if this was even legal...!

 In honor of the improbable outcome, this Post-Iron Bowl cover features the cursed aubie running through jordan-hare stadium in his demonic jersey, wielding his arcane weapons: Salt thrown over his shoulder, wearing a four-leaf clover around his neck, and carrying both a horseshoe and a rabbit's foot as he steps around his home-made "Big Al" voodoo doll totem.
The ONLY logical explanation.

Now, the best BAMA can hope for is a repeat of history: an unlikely weekend of epic upsets, in which both Ohio State AND Florida State BOTH lose! The Buckeyes stand a VERY good chance of being upset by the more physical Michigan State Spartans, while the Seminoles are a lot less likely to lose to the Duke Blue Devils (who are seeing a resurgence under former Alabama qb David Cutcliffe).
Highly unlikely, but after seeing the ending to OUR game, it appears that in this last season of the BCS, ANYthing can happen!
ROLL TIDE ANYWAY!

2013: Pain For The Plainsmen

Wow!
THIS football season has really flown by, and these two teams have both certainly been the story!
THE TIDE, as expected, has sailed through and is poised to have a chance for a berth in the SEC Title Game AND a shot at an unprecedented 3rd Straight BCS Championship. The tigers, surprisingly, are still in the hunt and can both derail The CRIMSON TIDE's season AND put themselves in that very same SEC spot with a win. This is the most relevant IRON BOWL for BOTH teams in recent memory.
Gus Malzahn has done a fine job in motivating this tiger/plainsmen/war-eagle team and giving them focus. He has this team playing at a higher level than in the past, and has taken advantage of some VERY lucky breaks. He is certainly a lock for SEC (and possibly National) Coach of the Year.

Cowpie's End 

All of this will be for naught, though, as auburn's 'Cinderella Season' comes crashing to to a halt as BAMA overpowers them and eventually buries them in their own cowpie-filled pasture. On the downside, the game is on CBS, so we have to listen to Verne & Gary.

IRON BOWL GameDay Pick:
ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE      31
auburn                                   17

Happy Thanksgiving...!

Barn Week

Well, it's "IRON BOWL" week again. The undefeated, top-ranked UNIVERSITY of ALABAMA will be facing a 1-Loss 4th-Ranked auburn. Looks to be a goodie up on the plains, so I'll have a few comics about this matchup this week-- starting with THIS one:

Topple the Tigers!

I'll be making my customary prediction later in the week, probably Friday.
ROLL TIDE!

SOOEY, PIG..!! TIDE ROLLS INTO FAYETTEVILLE TO SLAUGHTER HAWGS!!

Well, the Arkansas Razorbacks lost last week to an unranked Louisiana-Monroe, dropping out of the Top25 and KILLING BAMA's power rankings. ESPN Gameday was scheduled to broadcast from Fayetteville, but Arkansas ruined their opportunity to be the center of the 'College Football Universe'. Tyler Wilson will mercifully be held out to save him another beating.

Prediction: ALABAMA 35, Arkansas 14

auburn 28, ULM 27.... plainsmen/war-eagles/tigers get lucky. It would be great if they lost, as it would put Louisiana-Monroe 2-0 and in first place in the SEC West. The TIDE needs cow college to win for our strength-o-schedule ratings.

tennessee 31, Florida 24.... I hate orange, but we need the Viles to win for OUR power rankings. I think they just might be a little more explosive than the seemingly plodding gators.

South Carolina 28, UAB 10..... meh... spurrier... who cares anymore.....
LSU 31, Idaho 10...... Mmmmmm..... taters...... Corndogs should handle them easily..
Georgia 45, Florida Atlantic 24..... Bulldogs secondary exposed, but they still win easily
Vanderbilt 28, Presbyterian 10.... meh
I hope Mississippi State can beat Troy, and that Ole Miss can get by Texas, but I'm afraid to make those two picks. I don't know enough about Missouri or Texas A&M yet to predict those.
I just hope they ALL win their out-of-conference match-ups.

ROLL TIDE!

AUBURN Wins National Championship...?!

How weird is THAT....?! auburn defeats the Oregon Ducks to win the BCS Football National Championship. That's just.... bizarre.

Could the Mayan calendar predicting the end of the world be off by a year...? Or could the Mayans possibly have not foreseen this highly-unlikely and virtually unbelievable outcome?

50-something years...! That's how long the tigers/plainsmen/war eagles or whatever waited between championships. This one will, in all likelihood, be forfeited later due to numerous NCAA rules violations. It wa undeniably won on the field.

Unfortunately, the national media saw these retards roll their OWN yard in celebration.

"Missed It By THAT Much.....!"

CRAP! Congratulations, auburn.

ROLL TIDE, ANYWAY!

The cow college, Alabama Polytech, beat THE UNIVERSITY of ALABAMA in a sure-enough nail-biter of an Iron Bowl. The tigers/plainsmen/wareagles or whatever beat The TIDE in one for the ages. 28-27. The auburn faithful will be talking about this for years.

This was a come-from-behind with more excitement-- and angst-- than I care for. AND it not only disappointed me (along with thousands of fans of various teams in AND out of the SEC)-- it also ruined my pick...! I had predicted ALABAMA to win, 35-28.

If last year's Heisman Trophy-winning Mark Ingram had tucked the ball away, it would not have been punched out of his arm from behind by a tiger defender, snuffing a potentially soul-killing drive.

If Trent Richardson catches a toss in the end-zone-- that hit him right in the hands-- it's an entirely different outcome.

That's 14 points left right out there on the field that SHOULD have been on the scoreboard.

Another play of note, after qb Greg McElroy was viciously flung to the ground on his shoulder in the final minutes: Julio Jones, who was accustomed to McElroy's floating tosses, was unprepared for the PERFECTLY-THROWN pass by back-up A.J. McCarron. The ball just zipped right over his shoulder. Had he been ready, it would have hit him right in the hands!

That play would have put BAMA a LOT closer to field-goal range.

I believe that South Carolina will, again, give auburn a stern test in the SEC Championship Game. With Spurrier having a little more time to prepare, THAT one should be pretty wild.

I also believe that this tiger team can beat the Ducks, the Horned Frogs, or whoever they will face in the BCS Title Game.

Stupid tigers.

ROLL TIDE, ANYWAY...!!

IRON BOWL Prediction Coming.....!

I will posting my pick for tomorrow's upcoming epic struggle in T-Town a little later this evening, after everyone has enjoyed their Thanksgiving feast.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Great Pre-IRON BOWL $cam Newton Mash-Up Video!

Former ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE Star Wes Neighbors shared this with me, so I thought I'd pass it on. VERY well-written and well-performed parody song of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" altered to fit the situation over at 'the barn'. Enjoy:




ROLL, TIDE, ROLL!

Nifty New "Cam Newton: Son of a Preacher Man" Song

Loveliest Parody Song On The Plains! HERE

The BARN Is BURNING: Fanning the Flames over on The Plains...

I was forwarded this by a friend. It appears that an unfortunate situation is really brewing over in West Georgia. Don't know how much is true, but I'll post it anyway--- just in case!

Someone forwarded me a story out of Montgomery that, if true, really means Auburn and Newton are dirty. Here it is : McGregor and 10 others are scheduled for arraignment Friday morning in federal court in Montgomery on charges accusing them of buying & selling votes on pro-gambling legislation.Bigger picture here is that the Feds have been investigating Milton McGregor (A major Auburn Booster and the owner of VictoryLand, which is located just outside of Montgomery) for quite some time. The Feds investigating efforts to pass gambling legislation in Alabama and money laundering schemes involving McGregor and other prominent Alabama politicians and Auburn boosters.The Feds have tape from wire taps made on McGregor & other prominent Auburn boosters from their investigation. The Newton's were just shopping their talents to the wrong people at the wrong time, thus there is hard evidence available that incriminates everyone involved. It's only a matter of time that all of this information becomes public.FBI found out about Cam before the NCAA did while wiretapping Milton McGregor and others related to the casino/bingo indictments. They uncovered conversations with McGregor, Auburn & Cam's uncle in Michigan. McGregor paid $250K to the uncle through a PAC and other hidden entities and the uncle funneled the money to Cecil.The FBI gave this information to the NCAA sometime after the indictments were handed down. They had to sit on the information for 6 months until the grand jury indicted the men and women in the gambling deal. All of the wiretap information was sealed, hence the delay in investigating. The NCAA had to go to Starkville to see if Cecil had solicited money from them as well. That is why State is involved. NCAA basically connecting all of the dots. Miss St may be cleared because they told Cecil no. He then went to Auburn. The offer was on the table from McGregor but Cam wanted to play at Miss St and not Auburn. When Miss St declined to pay him, he went to where the money was... hence the comment, "The money was too much." The FBI met with the Miss St coaches, John Bond and Bill Bell yesterday to get their official statements.

NEW Heisman Trophy?

HERE's my idea for this year's "HEISMAN TROPHY" if, in fact, Cam Newton DOES actually win it. Regardless of what happens, there is NO doubt that he IS the BEST PLAYER IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL. (Some would say 'The Best Money Can Buy', but that's a totally different post!)

My apologies to Mississippi State, whose reference I actually forgot to include. Thank you, Bulldogs, for your contributions.

Today's Picks

Okay, 'The Hat' Les Miles and Mike King's LSU Tigers brought The TIDE's 'Repeat' hopes to a crawling halt last week, but the season's not over YET!

ALABAMA hosts an emotional Mississippi State squad in a night game, and it should be interesting.

The Bulldogs are motivated to win one and have dedicated this game to Nick Bell, a deceased teammate who succumbed last week to cancer. Dan Mullen has put together a solid squad over in Starkville, and will coach his heart out.

No matter.

The TIDE looked flat and lost a game last week- on national tv- that they should have won.

ALABAMA 35, MSU 14

Q: Why does Scam Newton wear #2...?

A: BECAUSE 200,000 WON'T FIT ON HIS JERSEY!! HAHAHA!

Seriously, this is an unfortunate turn of events. I wanted the tigers/plainsmen/war-eagles or whatever to be undefeated, #1-ranked and confident going into The Iron Bowl, so that a nice humiliating defeat at the hands of The TIDE would be even more soul-crushing.

I will just have to make the best of this distracting bad press, negative publicity, Heisman-killing revelations and dis-array this whole 'Highest-Bidder-Gets-Cam' debacle has become to the 'Barn. Georgia has been playing pretty good ball as of late, but if Scam Newton plays, it won't matter.

WITH Cam: auburn 42, Georgia 35

W/O Cam: Georgia 35, the barn 21

Arkansas 42, UTEP 24
Kentucky 28, Vandy 17 Vandy leads 3-0 as I type this...!
Ole Miss 31, Tennessee 28 The Vols lead 14-0 as I type this....!
Florida 28, South Carolina 21 Gators rising, Cocks spiraling.....Winner wins East!


TCU 42, SDSU 10
Stanford 31, ASU 24
Nebraska 27, Kansas 20
Penn State 24, Ohio St. 21 I know.... I'm just rootin' for Joe Pa, though...!
Oklahoma St. 35, Texas 14 Mack Brown's having some problems....
Utah 49, Notre Dame 20

This Week's Picks!

Well, here we go again in the round-robin that is Southeastern Conference college football. Just a week after knocking off a top-ranked ALABAMA Crimson Tide behind a career day by quarterback Stephen Garcia, the South Carolina Gamecocks were defeated by a Kentucky Wildcat team led by quarterback Mike Hartline with- you guessed it- a career day!
Nationally, the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes, who had assumed the top spot following The Tide's loss, were knocked off by Wisconsin the first week they were tops! The top-ranked team in the polls, the Oregon Ducks, stomped UCLA Thursday night to survive another week. The top team in the BCS Rankings, the Oklahoma Sooners, face an upset-minded-- and capable-- Missouri Tigers team. But, that's unlikely. Stoops will have his troops ready.

_______________________________________________________________

This Week's SEC Picks:

ALABAMA travels to Knoxville to face a struggling Tennessee team Saturday night. As much as I respect Derek Dooley (son of legendary Georgia Coach Vince and former long-time Saban assistant), I hate the Vols. Every time I see former coach phil fulmer on tv, I throw up a little bit in my mouth. TIDE ROLLS.
ALABAMA 31, tennessee 3
Arkansas 42, Ole Miss Black Bear Rebels (Hahahahahahahahaha!!) 17
Mississippi State 31, UAB 14
South Carolina 28, Vanderbilt 14
Georgia and Kentucky? TOSS-UP! Who knows which of these teams will show up? Should be the second-most exciting game today, though...!
Florida, luckily, is idle.
auburn 35, LSU 21 (See post below!) winner gets sole possession of top spot

Nationally:
Oklahoma 42, Missouri 28
Penn State 21, Minnesota 14
Ohio State 38, Purdue 21
TCU 38, Air Force 17
Michigan St. 35, Northwestern 13
Utah 42, Colorado St. 21
West Virginia 28, Syracuse 14
Nebraska 35, Oklahoma State 28

If Only They Could BOTH Lose......!

#6-Ranked Louisiana State visits western Georgia to face #5-Rated auburn today on television (CBS 2:30) in a sunny afternoon SEC West contest between two teams called "tigers". Both teams, surprisingly, are undefeated. Really. The plainsmen/war-eagles/tigers or whatever host the 'bayou bengals', and as much as I hate both teams, I have to watch.
auburn's Cam Newton has elevated the team's play in spectacular fashion, and his running and passing abilities and 'clutch plays' have placed him squarely in the Heisman race. @*#%!!
Both LSU and the 'Mad Hatter' Les Miles have been awfully lucky-- again! Quirky play-calling and questionable time-management issues will just not go away. The main issue will be if LSU's defense can stop-- or contain-- the high-powered Newton. If they stuff his scrambling, can they also take away his receiving targets...?
Either way, one team will fall-both on the field and in the rankings, and ALABAMA's Nick Saban and Kirby Smart will be able to scout BOTH teams to devise strategies.
RTR!